Odisha: Excise Commissioner Dismisses Corrupt Officer from Service

Bhubaneswar: An excise officer has been dismissed from the government service for his involvement in corrupt practices.

Niranjan Khatua, ASI of Excise of Cuttack District was dismissed from the service for his corrupt practices in getting illegal gratification from illegal business of liquor.

Odisha Excise Commissioner Narasingha Bhol took the strong action against the corrupt officer.

There were lots of allegations against Khatua. Enquiry with IT application proved his involvement in colluding with the bootleggers in illegal liquor business. Earlier, he was also placed under suspension for consuming liquor with the bootleggers in one IMFL ON shop and the Departmental enquiry is going on. His father was also arrested by EI & EB Unit-I, Cuttack while selling foreign liquor illegally and forwarded to jail custody in the past, according to a press release issued by the Excise Department.

Being a duty-bound member of the uniform service, instead of performing duty to contribute towards curbing illicit liquor trade, there are ample evidences of him giving protection to the illegal liquor traders and being in hand in gloves with liquor mafias. He has not only disgraced himself, but also his actions are against interest of the Excise Department. His collusion with the bootleggers in illegal liquor businessis unbecoming of a government servant and hence, he was dismissed from service in public interest in accordance with Rule 311 (2) (b) of Constitution of India.

It is pertinent to mention here that during last five months five Excise personnel have been dismissed for their illegal activities. The process of dismissing/ removing corrupt/ inefficient members of the Excise Department will continue in order to improve the integrity and efficiency of the Excise Department. Stringent action will continue to be taken against Government servants of the Department, who indulge in activities pre-judicial to public interest, the Department said.