Bihar IPS faces action over leave

The Bihar government has initiated departmental proceedings against controversial Bihar-cadre IPS officer Nirmal Dhoundial for going on unauthorised leave.

This, even as the state government awaits a reply from the Delhi home department on the issue of Lotika Sarkar and the house at L1/10 Hauz Khas Enclave, which Dhoundial claims has been gifted to his wife.

This newspaper had in a series of reports earlier this year exposed the story of Lotika — the 87-year-old former Delhi University don and now staying with friends and relatives — who has appealed to Dhoundial to return her house.

Describing the house as her “security” in her old age, Lotika, in a letter to Dhoundial clearly wrote that she never intended to give the house to “anyone at all”. And, she has no recollection of having signed any gift deed either.

Taking note of the reports, the state home department sought an explanation from the 1980 batch IPS officer on the issue. “Dhoundial furnished a short, vague reply, rubbishing the news reports,” a top state official said, adding that the home department subsequently wrote to its counterpart in the Delhi government, seeking details of the case. A reply is still awaited. Posted as IG-cum-chief security officer of the Bihar State Cooperative Marketing Union (BISCOMAUN), Dhoundial applied for leave soon after. He stopped attending office even though the departmental secretary did not sanction his leave. This was in February this year.

As per All-India Service (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, proceeding on unsanctioned leave is a “serious act of indiscipline”. “Dhoundial complicated the matter as he sent a few letters in between, extending the leave that was not sanctioned in the first place,” the home department official said, adding that the officer has been on unauthorised leave for over six months now.

As part of disciplinary action against Dhoundial, the state home department on Monday issued a memorandum, asking him to explain his absence from his place of posting. Sources said issuing a memorandum is the first stage of departmental proceedings. In the second stage, an inquiry would be conducted by a superior officer. “Based on the inquiry report, the chief minister would decide on the action to be taken against the officer,” the source said, emphasising that the entire proceeding is usually completed within 90 days.

According to the all-India service rules, Dhoundial now faces a penalty, which could be either denial of salary for the period of his absence or denial of promotion for a certain period. “In extreme cases, the state government can recommend the officer’s dismissal from service to the Centre,” a personnel department official told explaining that much depends on
how the officer presents his case before the department.

Incidentally, because of his continued absence, Bihar Police’s departmental promotion committee, which cleared promotions of 1980-batch officers to the rank of ADG in February, did not take up Dhoundial’s case. link