Imphal, August 08: Fully concurring with the points raised by Opposition MLAs O Joy and Dr Nimaichand Luwang in a call attention motion during the morning session of the Assembly today, Tribal Development Minister Ngamthang Haokip assured that all the documents of the Chief Executive Officer of Ukhrul District Council, Th Kabudang, including the attendance register of the teachers under the Council, payment book etc would be seized and produced on the floor of the Assembly on Monday.

The Minister also requested the Deputy Speaker M Lala to send a message to the Ukhrul SP to seal the office of the CEO and seize the relevant documents.

The morning session of the Assembly witnessed a charged atmosphere with Opposition MLAs O Joy and Dr Nimaichand Luwang drawing the attention of the Tribal Development Minister to the various graft charges against the CEO, who also doubles up as the SDO of Ukhrul and Phungyar as well as the Treasury Officer of Ukhrul Treasury Office.

Moving the motion, O Joy said that the CEO has misappropriated large sum of arrears meant for 354 teachers working under the Ukhrul District Council.

Giving details, Joy said that out of the total amount of Rs 24,52,062 sanctioned under Plan money for the 1998 ROP for 72 teachers only Rs 12,26,001 was released to the teachers while the rest as pocketed by the CEO.

Again out of the Rs 12,26,001 released to the teachers, 15 percent was deducted by the Cashier.

Again a sum of Rs 1,04,60,226 was released as three months ROP for the teachers, said Joy adding that here too, the CEO released only Rs 65,61,208.Stating that corruption has become synonymous with officialdom in Manipur, O Joy said that the arrear meant for the 1998 ROP was released in March this year but the CEO had pocketed half of the amount while 15 percent of the amount was deducted by the Cashier.

Joining in, Dr Nimaichand Luwang said that it is abhorrent that some hanky panky business should be involved in releasing the pay and arrears o teachers while there is an outcry against the acute lack of teaching staff in the hill areas.

He also expressed surprise that the arrear for 1998 was released only this year.

Going on the offensive against teachers in the hill districts, Dr Luwang said that majority of the teachers do not bother to attend classes and the pay is divided between the teacher concerned and the village chief.

These teachers are at most time involved in some other vocations and their salaries come for free, he added.

Dr Luwang further said that the present uproar could be due to some differences on how to divide the spoils amongst them.

Giving a brief reply to the motion raised, Tribal Development Minister Ngamthang Haokip said that the matter has already been highlighted to the CEO concerned by the TD Commissioner.

The CEO has explained that the charges against him are fabricated and baseless, the Minister informed the House.

The reply left O joy fuming with rage who got up and questioned the wisdom of the whole exercise of asking an accused whether he is guilty of siphoning off funds or not.

In a scathing attack on the TD Commissioner, the MLA said some wisdom is expected from an officer of the status of a Commissioner rather than merely relying on the version of the accused.

The Assembly is not occupied by yokels who will blindly believe all the answers furnished by officers, maintained O Joy and asked what impression of the Assembly the people will have if officers think they can pull wool over the eyes of the House by furnishing such answers.

Instead of seeking answers from the accused officer there are other methods to get to the bottom of the matter at hand, said Joy and caustically questioned whether the post of Ministership is immune to anything called shame.

Stating that such matter cannot be allowed to be let off that easily, the MLA suggested that the DGP be instructed to send a message to the Ukhrul SP to seal off the office of the CEO and seize all relevant documents including the attendance register of teachers as well as the pay book.

Agreeing with the arguments forwarded by O Joy, Tribal Development minister appealed to the Deputy Speaker, who was at the Chair then, to do the needful and assured that all relevant documents would be tabled on the floor of the Assembly on Monday.