Goswami may be fired, scam role under scanner

Under a cloud for his role in the Bihar flood relief scam exposed by The Indian Express, former Patna District Magistrate Gautam Goswami fac...

Under a cloud for his role in the Bihar flood relief scam exposed by The Indian Express, former Patna District Magistrate Gautam Goswami faces dismissal from the IAS for joining the Sahara Group without permission of the state government.

He also faces the charge of criminal culpability in the flood scam because Express investigations showed that Rs 17.45 crore, meant for flood relief, was paid from the Patna DM’s account last year to a contractor-turned-politician, Santosh Kumar Jha, with close links to RJD leader Sadhu Yadav.

Official sources said that Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi called up Bihar Chief Secretary K A H Subramaniam on April 3 and gave him time till May 9 to take action against Goswami.

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It’s learnt that Chaturvedi pulled up Subramaniam for the delay in proceeding against the former Patna DM.

A 1991 batch Bihar cadre IAS official, Goswami submitted his resignation to the Bihar government on December 31 and joined the Sahara Group without waiting for the acceptance of his resignation by the cadre controlling authority. The Department of Personnel rejected Goswami’s resignation in January this year.

As per existing government rules, he can only be dismissed and barred from any future job in the government.