Seven tehsildars move MAT against suspension

NASHIK: The seven tehsildars suspended by the government for their alleged role in the misappropriation of foodgrain worth Rs 7.17 crore in Surgana taluka moved the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) on Thursday seeking cancellation of the suspension orders.
Sandeep Aher, tehsildar who has been suspended, told TOI, “We have moved MAT challenging the suspension orders of the state government in the case of the misappropriation of foodgrain in Surgana taluka.We were suspended despite our clean record. We had carried out all steps to ensure that there were no issues of supply in our jurisdictions.”
The tehsildars registered their case with principal bench of MAT, Mumbai. Rajiv Agarwal, vice-chairman of the tribubal, heard the tehsildars but did not grant any interim relief. The vice-chairman has called for details of files from both departments and adjourned hearing of the case till Monday, May 25.
“The vice-chairman conducted the hearing of the matter for two hours on Thursday and noted that there was a conflict of interest between the revenue and food and civil supplies department. He said he needed to go through the file notings that had led to the suspension of the tehsildars,” another suspended tehsildar told TOI.
The revenue department suspended seven tehsildars from Nashik district on Tuesday accusing them of being involved in misappropriation of 30,609 quintal foodgrain and sugar worth Rs 7.17 crore in the open market that were to be supplied to the beneficiaries of Surgana taluka.
The suspension letters were served all seven tehsildars; (Nashik) Ganesh Rathod, (Igatpuri) Mahendra Pawar, (Trimbakeshwar) Nareshkumar Bahiram, (Peth) Kailas Kadalag, (Niphad) Sandeep Aher, (Sinnar) Manoj Khairnar and (Dindori) Mandar Kulkarni.
According to the tehsildars, their talukas were supplied foodgrain from the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) godowns at Nashik – the same source for Surgana taluka. “Because there was allegedly huge misappropriation of foodgrain in Surgana taluka, the civil supply department felt that even other tehsildars might be involved in the activity. Our records are very clean and hence we tried every bit to explain our stand to the government. Since the government went ahead with its decision, we knocked the doors of the MAT,” the tehsildar added.
The tehsildars also cited the Nashik district collector report, which states that the inspection of the records of the godowns from these seven talukas did not reveal any irregularity.