Congress questions appointment of state CEO by Fadnavis government

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Congress has questioned the appointment of Baldev Singh as the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), alleging that a probe on the directions of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) was going on for the alleged irregularities in SEEPZ when he was heading it.

Singh, however, rubbished the allegations saying that the case referred to is from the period before he took charge at the SEEPZ (Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone).

Addressing a press conference on Friday, state Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant alleged that Singh was facing an inquiry initiated by the CVC and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce was probing allegations of irregularity in SEEPZ Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

"The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had passed strictures in the case in its June 2018 report tabled in Parliament. The financial scam is related to an appointment of an ineligible agency for the works without having authority," he said.

"Despite the ongoing probe, the Devendra Fadnavis government appointed Singh as the CEO of Maharashtra in July 2019 just ahead of the Assembly polls. This has raised serious questions about the role of the Election Commission," he said.

Sawant asked why the credentials of the CEO were not cross-checked while appointing him in the post and sought to know if there was any "pressure from the BJP".

However, the CEO Maharashtra said on the official Twitter handle, "It is very sad, mischievous and misleading, the way facts are being tried to be presented by the Congress leader. These are absolutely false and untrue and incorrect allegations."

"The allotment was done by an earlier development commissioner who was the competent authority during his period. All the payments were released by the predecessor. All this in details have been already been given to the competent authorities in the government," the tweet said.