Officer spoke his mind, gets notice

Maharashtra has issued a showcause notice to Arun Bhatia, Commissioner of Tribal Research & Training Institute (TRTI), asking why an inquiry...

Maharashtra has issued a showcause notice to Arun Bhatia, Commissioner of Tribal Research & Training Institute (TRTI), asking why an inquiry should not be initiated against him for contradicting and criticising the state government over the death of tribal children in Thane district.

The notice, issued by state Chief Secretary V. Ranganathan on September 12, has charged Bhatia of violating rules seven and nine of the All India Services (conduct) Rules, 1968. Bhatia has been asked to file his say within seven days.

The notice states that the Tribal Development Minister and Public Health Minister had explained that the deaths of 22 children in Wada taluka of Thane and 494 children in Thane district were not caused due to malnutrition.

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However, Bhatia, in a press conference on September 2, contradicted the stand, the notice said. It also referred to a letter ‘‘purportedly written by Bhatia’’ to the state chief secretary, criticising the state government.

Bhatia said the show-cause notice shows total lack of transparency. ‘‘It is a way of gagging officers and suppressing differences of opinion. A primitive and undemocratic move which speaks poorly of the state administration,’’ he said.

Bhatia, a former Pune Municipal Corporation commissioner, was transferred out of the post in 1999 following his efforts to check corrpution in the civic administration.

Meanwhile, BJP national vice-president Gopinath Munde on Monday demanded that Bhatia’s report be made public. ‘‘The Democratic Front rulers are happily tampering with the facts while hundreds of children are dying of malnutrition,’’ he said, blasting Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and his deputy Chhagan Bhujbal for not visiting the affected areas.