New bill in the offing to check issue of fake caste certificates.
The State Cabinet on Tuesday approved the recommendations of the Government of India (GoI) on the maritime board planned to oversee the management and operations of all the existing as well as upcoming minor ports in the state.
According to the recommendations of the GoI, the chairman of Paradeep Port Trust (PPT) will be the member of the board. Besides, if a member remains absent from the board meeting for three consecutive times without notice, his membership would be suspended. Earlier, the suspension order was valid for absence from board meetings for six consecutive occasions.
Besides, it has been decided to incorporate some security aspects as suggested by GoI.
"The maritime board will have the provisions of International Shipping & Port Facility Security Code as provided in Chapter-9 (B) of Merchant Shipping Act-1958. The GoI has suggested that security should be a part of the multi-disciplinary maritime board and we have decided to include the security provisions. A bill relating to the maritime board will be introduced in the state assembly soon," said Gagan Dhal, principal secretary (commerce & transport).
The Cabinet also decided to initiate a new bill in the assembly- Orissa SC, ST & Backward Classes (Regulation of Issuance & Verification of Caste Certificate) Bill. This is being done to check the issue of fake certificates.
"During the last meeting, the discussion related to issue of fake certificates was deferred by the State Cabinet. This time, we have decided to form a scrutiny committee to check the veracity of caste certificates. If the committee is satisfied that fake caste certificate has been issued, it will confiscate the certificate. There are punishment provisions which will apply to the issuer as well as applicant for the certificate. The punishments include rigorous imprisonment starting from six months and not exceeding two years. Besides, there is also a penalty ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 20,000. However, an applicant or issuer of the certificate can contest the decision of the committee in an Appellate Authority," said Chief Secretary B K Patnaik.
The Cabinet also approved an amendment to the Local Fund Audit Act as recommended by the 13th Finance Commission.
"In order to be eligible for performance grant of Rs 1250 crore, the Commission had recommended that the accounts of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) should be audited and updated. Moreover, the 13th Finance Commission had recommended that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) would offer technical support and guidance for the audit and the report of the CAG has to be tabled in the state assembly. We have accepted both the recommendations," said Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, principal secretary (finance).
The State Cabinet also gave its nod to the restructuring of the cooperation department.
"New posts will be created in the cooperation department which includes one post of special secretary, one post of joint secretary, six posts of deputy registrar of cooperative societies and 11 posts of assistant registrar of cooperative societies," said Mona Sharma, secretary (cooperation).
