Pune sub-area commander Brigadier Rajbir Singh admits his officers did not follow procedure while accepting 'gift-on-charge', promises action against the guilty

Army officers also at fault: Brigadier

Pune sub-area commander Brigadier Rajbir Singh admits his officers did not follow procedure while accepting 'gift-on-charge', promises action against the guilty
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Pune sub-area commander Brigadier Rajbir Singh yesterday had a difficult time defending his officers after allegations of them having obstructed officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) during a raid on Command Hospital on December 3.

The raid was conducted in connection with a case of corruption against an officer of the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Brigadier Singh had to admit that his officers were at fault for allowing a blacklisted medical vendor to install an air-conditioner in the vendors' waiting room at the Command Hospital. This according to him was an "unaccounted good", or an item not documented, and which should had been taken as a "gift-on-charge", that is the item should have been paid for, as is laid down in the procedures.u00a0 "The officer in-charge had told the vendor to furnish the bill, but he did not. If the bill comes to us, we will pay them for it. However, the AC has not been documented and we allowed the CBI to seize it. Action will be taken against army officials who didn't follow the procedures," Brigadier Singh said.

He also accepted that his officers had informed him about the raid at the Command Hospital eight hours after the CBI team reached the unit to carry out the "surprise check".

But before he admitted to his officer's mistakes, Brigadier Singh accused the CBI of "faltering in procedure" and "sensationalising" the raid.

"The CBI had trespassed in a military area and action could have been taken against it. However, we are not contemplating any legal action against the CBI, which has faltered in following procedure during the surprise check and lodged a false complaint against commandant of the hospital Major General S S Panwar, accusing him of obstructing its work," said Brigadier Singh. "We are, however, taking up the matter with the MoD (Ministry of Defence) to resolve it at the highest level."u00a0

u00a0CBI SP Vidya Kulkarni said, "The commandant was taken into confidence for the surprise check and he had co-operated with us for eight hours. If the commandant wanted to inform his superiors, he could have done so. He produced documents related to other items like computers, but failed to show any purchase document related to the AC installed in the DGLP cell."

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