A report by Air India to the Civil Aviation Ministry (CAM) has absolved senior IPS officer Shobha Ohatker, posted as Chief Vigilance Officer (Dy CVO) of the national carrier, of all charges of irregularities against her.
In an anonymous complaint by a ‘fake’ retired ‘IAS’ officer to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) last year, Ohatker was accused of staying in hotels and flying to different destinations at Air India’s expense despite her non-entitlement, besides claiming unauthorised HRA benefits.
Ohatker, a 1990-batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre, has been with Air India since 2015. The Ministry had sought an explanation from Air India CMD on March 5, 2016 on the charges.
“The report has stated that HRA was inadvertently paid by the finance department to the CVO which was, however, recovered immediately from her salary when she herself pointed it out. The report clarified that Ohatker’s stay in hotel in Mumbai was approved by the then CMD until a suitable residential accommodation in the city was allotted to her,” said a senior Civil Aviation Ministry (CAM) official.
The report also mentions that the charges that she frequently undertook unauthorised travel between Delhi and Pune was factually incorrect. “A total of 31 journeys were ticketed over a period of one year of which only 21 were utilized for duty travel. Those were frivolous complaints. How can a person travel 31 times in a month as was alleged. The allegations of corruption are not only unfounded and false, but seems to have been made with a deliberate malicious intent to belittle the honesty and integrity of a senior officer ,” added the official.
Ohatker is still remembered as Hunterwali in Bihar where she served as SP in some districts and took on kidnappers’ gangs, cracked down on terrorists groups, and exposed powerful Bihar politicians like Md AA Fatmi. Her raids against gang members of Babloo Srivastava and Irfan Goga, both having ISI links, and dreaded associates of Faizul Rahman, known to work for Dawood Ibrahim were much appreciated then.
Meanwhile, a recent order by the Air India CMD Ashwani lohani has also paved the way to recover unauthorised payments made to carrier’s employees who are charged with misusing their respective position and mistreating public fund.
“Cases have come to our notice, wherein employees have received payments that they are not entitled, at times due to mistake or oversight. All such unauthorised payments given/received should be recovered in least number of installments possible from next month salary of the employee as soon as it is detected/brought to the notice of the Finance Department,” said lohani’s order.
