PMC says its as per norms; 59 employees removed on various counts remain suspended Two of the civic engineers named in the Kothrud TDR scam that rocked the Pune Municipal Corporation in 2005 have been reinstated even as their cases are pending in court. Assistant engineer Deepak Kulkarni and junior engineer Madhusudan Yenkar are likely to resume duty next week,but not in their earlier departments. Deputy Municipal Commissioner K C Karkar said he issued orders for their reinstatement on Friday. They are being taken back as per guidelines that say if no verdict has come out in a case against a suspended official in two years,he could be taken back in service. His suspension stands cancelled until the outcome of the court trial, said Karkar. He said the two engineers would most probably be asked to take up the metro project. Kulkarni was earlier with the Land Measurement Department and Yenkar with the Building Control Department Reinstatement of two others suspended over the TDR scam,Dattatray Tambare and Ravindra Thorat,is under consideration. The process is under way. We have not yet taken a call on them. Karkar said they had sought legal advice before deciding to take back the two engineers. The TDR scam had surfaced in 2005,and it was alleged the PMC was duped of Rs 14 crore by two property owners and their agent who procured TDR for a Kothrud plot already acquired by the PMC. The PMC has also restored the services of senior grade clerk Shankar Bapu Thorat accused of taking a bribe of Rs 1,500 while working at Nehru Stadium,and Rakesh Sonwane,a labourer suspended over a bribe of Rs 1,500 while he was working at the Dhankawadi office. With these four returning,59 civic employees still remain suspended on various counts. PMC has 18,000 employees in all. In the last seven years,as many as 63 employees have been suspended after they were caught by ACB,or an inter-department inquiry was initiated or a criminal case was filed against them. A suspended employee gets 75 per cent of the salary. However,they lose annual increments, Karkar said. Of the 63 suspended,11 were caught by the ACB,29 faced inter-departmental inquiry and 23 were charged with criminal offences. The severity of the offence ranged from taking bribe,promising job or committing murder. Besides the TDR scam accused,a junior engineer D Gaikwad had been accused of taking a bribe of Rs 50,000. A civic health department officials was suspended in 2010 for abetting suicide. A sweeper was suspended in 2011 for submitting fake documents promising jobs in PMC. As many as 22 employees were suspended in April this year after they for marking present in the attendance register though they were absent. B C Hotkar,a labourer,was suspended in 2006 after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his wife. He has appealed the HC. Another labourer is facing charges of murder in a case filed with Deccan police. Civic officials said only after the entire court process is completed can sacking an employee be considered.
