3 IAS Officers Took Lavish Paris Trip at Public Expense, Reveals Chandigarh Audit Report

Chandigarh: Three senior IAS officers of Chandigarh are under scanner after an audit report reportedly revealed shocking irregularities by them misusing public money for their lavish Paris trip in the year 2015. As per the report, the three officials used public money for their business class air tickets and accommodations at luxury five-star hotel rooms. Not only this, the money was also used in several unaccounted expenditures abroad. The allegations have been levelled against the three bureaucrats namely Vijay Dev, the then adviser to the Chandigarh administrator, Anurag Agarwal, the then Chandigarh home secretary and Vikram Dev Dutt, the then secretary (personnel). Notably, during the time, the former-Governor of Punjab, Kaptan Singh Solanki was also looking after the additional charge of Chandigarh.

Reports suggest that the three officials went to France in 2015 on the invitation from Foundation Le Corbusier in Paris to the Chandigarh administration for a meeting to mark the 50th Anniversary of Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier. Notably, Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier had prepared the master plan for Chandigarh.

The three officials allegedly approved each others trip, says report

On receiving the invitation, the administration nominated four participants for the event and after the Home Ministry's clearance for Vijay Dev, Vikram Dev Dutt and Anurag Agarwal, the tour programme was approved.

Surprisingly, it surfaced that the three officers sanctioned each other's tours. As per the information, Vijay Dev approved the tour of Anurag Agarwal and Vikram Dev Dutt, while Vijay Dev’s trip was approved by Vikram Dev Dutt.

In the audit report by the Director General of Audit (Central), it was revealed that the invitation was originally meant only for the Chief Architect of Chandigarh, but instead, the three secretary-level officers sanctioned the tour of each other and went to France at the cost of the taxpayers.

Report further states that the 7-days trip was not sponsored by the host foundation and all expenses were paid by the Chandigarh administration for the three officials. Not only this, the officers also bypassed the rule that no foreign travel exceeding five days should be approved without a nod from a screening committee. The officials allegedly expanded a one-day tour to 7 days without any approval. 

Expenditure details

As per the details revealed in the audit report, the business class air ticket for each of the three bureaucrats amounted to Rs 1.77 lakh. The audit reports state that over Rs 6.7 lakh was spent only in changing the hotels during the trip. The officials had reportedly claimed that the change in hotels was made in order to ensure that the location was closer to the venue.

The Right to Information (RTI) records show that Vijay Dev was initially sanctioned over Rs 6.5 lakh, Anurag Agarwal Rs 5.6 lakh and Vikram Dev Dutt Rs 5.7 lakh for the trip, which summed up to around 17.8 lakh. However, the trip expenditure went past Rs 25 lakh, which was around 40 per cent more than the amount initially sanctioned.

It is also being said that the three officials cleared the increased expenditure for each other.