Hans News Service Bhubaneswar

Enforcinga zero-tolerance approach towards corruption in government offices, the Odisha government on Tuesday terminated the services of Manisha Mishra, an Odisha Revenue Service (ORS) officer on probation, following her arrest in a bribery case.The official order was issued on Tuesday by the State Revenue and Disaster Management department on the Governor’s order. According to the order, Mishra, ORS (under probation), was posted as Sub-Registrar at Baliapal in Baleshwar district. She was caught red-handed by the Vigilance officials of Baleshwar division on November 6 after receipt of a bribe of Rs 7,000 from the complainant, Gyanaranjan Patra from Pancharukhi village of Baleshwar district, on demand in her office chamber in Baliapal in lieu of the registration of his land and issuance of the sale deed.

The order further noted that the GA (Vigilance) Department, Kataka, formally communicated the incident to the R&DM department on November 7.Based on the complaint of Patra, a case was registered at the Baleshwar Vigilance police station on November 5, under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, in this regard.

Subsequently, Mishra was arrested on November 7 after getting caught red-handed while receiving the bribe on November 6. She was later forwarded to court and remanded to jail custody until November 20.The government stated that Mishra has not yet completed her probation period as per Rule-17(1) of the ORS (Recruitment) Rule, 2011 and Rule-3(1) of the Odisha Revenue Service, Group-B (Probation and Departmental Examination) Rules, 2016. The department considered her conduct a grave case of corruption, amounting to gross misconduct and personal immorality, and constituting a direct violation of Rule 3 of the Odisha Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1959. Taking into account the gravity of the charges, the appointing authority determined that her further continuance in service is highly detrimental to the public interest. “Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Rule -17(2) of the ORS Recruitment Rule,2011 read with Rule-3(2) and 3(3)(a) of the Odisha Revenue Service, Group-B (Probation and Departmental Examination) Rules, 2016, the services of Ms. Manisha Mishra, ORS, Sub-Registrar, Baliapal is hereby terminated with immediate effect from the date of issue of this order,” noted the R&DM department.