Stern action against Bhatia likely

8220;As per the provisions of the All India Civil Service and Discipline Rules, the committee had given a notice to Bhatia to make submissions on the charges against him, but he never appeared before the committee. Under such circumstances, the committee was left with no alternative but to conduct an ex-parte probe and submit the report,8221; a senior official said.

While the Chavan Committee has submitted its report, the State government is awaiting the outcome of the no-confidence motion being moved against Bhatia in the Pune Municipal Corporation, the official added.

8220;The Chavan Committee has come to theconclusion that Bhatia violated the disciplinary rules and exceeded his brief while communicating with his superiors,8221; the official said, adding, before taking any action against Bhatia, the entire report of the committee along with the proposed disciplinary action will be communicated to him for his response.

The Chavan Committee probed into nine charges against Bhatia, the main imputation being that the latter had made baseless and false charges against former Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner D M Sukthankar. Bhatia8217;s contention was that Sukthankar had deliberately not divulged confidential information on additional Floor Space Index FSI granted to individuals and also documents related to lands released from the Urban Land Ceiling Act.

Another charge was that Sukthankar had granted additional FSI to the Charle Villa Cooperative Society of Indian Administrative Service officials near Churchgate. It was charged that Bhatia did not follow the prescribed procedure while making submissions to hissuperiors and used offensive, derogatory and threatening language against his superiors.

The Bhatia was alleged to have acquired copies of Suthankar8217;s confidential records in an unauthorised manner and approached the fourth estate for redressal of his grievances, leaked confidential documents and information to the media, misused government machinery and stationery, approached politicians for redressal of his grievances and claimed travel and daily allowance for his private and non-official visits to Mumbai.

8220;The entire charge-sheet was given to him as the government never wanted a one-sided probe. But there was absolutely no response from him. On the contrary, now he has written a letter to the Union Cabinet Secretary against the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. Under such circumstances, the government will have to take disciplinary action against him,8221; the official added.

While another inquiry is still in progress, Bhatia is presently engaged in a confrontation with new Chief Secretary ArunBongirwar.