Darbhanga DTO quits, says couldn’t work with dignity

PATNA: The Darbhanga district transport officer (DTO) Rajeev Kumar resigned from his post on Friday saying he was unable to safeguard his self-respect and pride while discharging his duties in the “present system”. His resignation letter — which has gone viral — also states that, in the present scenario, “it seems impossible to achieve the dreams of righteousness, justice and helping in the development of the state for which I had joined the service after resigning from the Indian Army”.
The administration, however, claims that Kumar resigned after Darbhanga district magistrate Thiyagrajan SM sent a report to the general administration department (GAD) last week recommending action against him for allegedly making unauthorised structural changes in his official quarters and illegally seizing a four-wheeler plying on contract with the building construction department.
In his resignation letter, written in Hindi and addressed to the GAD principal secretary, the Bihar administrative service cadre officer wrote that “this system” was preventing him from carrying out his duties with dignity. “After dedicating more than eight years to this service with complete loyalty, I find that I am neither being able to contribute to the development of the state and the nation and nor can I discharge personal and family responsibilities while safeguarding my dignity”.
Officials from the Darbhanga administration, who are privy to details of the inquiry ordered by the DM, said Kumar had met the executive engineer of the building construction department in June asking him to repair portions of his quarters which were demolished without authorisation. When the executive engineer refused, Kumar allegedly got a four-wheeler — which was assigned to the executive engineer by the department — and a two-wheeler belonging to a junior engineer seized on charges of rash driving.
“The executive engineer had alleged that Kumar had verbally abused him and the engineers’ association had also staged a protest against the officer. These developments led to the DM ordering an inquiry and Kumar was found guilty. A copy of the inquiry report was sought by the divisional commissioner too,” said a senior district official.
Asked about the officer’s resignation, DM Thiyagrajan SM said that was Kumar’s personal affair and he would not comment on it. “He had stopped attending meetings since the past few weeks,” he said.
GAD principal secretary Amir Subhani said there are charges of unauthorised demolition and construction in the government quarters allotted to Kumar. He added that Kumar had also seized the vehicle of the executive engineer to intimidate him.
“The resignation letter hasn’t reached me yet but I have heard about it from media reports. The DM has recommended action against Kumar. The matter will be dealt with objectively, based on facts and merits,” Subhani said.