Ferreira questions lack of FIR against UDC accused in Pernem Excise Scam

Panaji: Aldona MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira on Sunday said that the termination order issued to Upper Division Clerk (UDC) Harish Naik, who was accused in the Pernem Excise Scam, will not stand in the court of law due to the lack of procedure followed in issuing the dismissal from service order.Ferreira said that there were allegations that Naik had forged bank slips and was issuing fake excise challans with original excise stamps.“It is an open and shut case of forgery. The government seems to be having lots to hide. Why has the government not filed an FIR and arrested this delinquent official? Does the government fear he will spill the beans and name someone higher up and expose the chain of corruption. Was Naik collecting money for someone else,” he questioned.Ferreira pointed out that no fair hearing was held for the official, and termed the ‘one-page’ dismissal order dated 12/9/2025 as sketchy which will not stand and will likely be dismissed by court.“Any disciplinary inquiry requires a charge to be framed, and then the procedure follows. The termination order must set out what is the case, the charge, the person’s defence to each of the charges made and what has been held by the inquiry officer and analyse this, and finally what is the decision of the inquiry officer on this matter, which is all missing in the order. It is a complete farce as Naik has not admitted to the crime,” Ferreira said.As per the termination order, Ferreira said that it states that disciplinary proceedings were initiated against Naik for acts of grave misconduct. It also states that based on Naik's written statement of defence, which was found unsatisfactory, an inquiry authority was appointed to inquire into the charges and the authority conducted an inquiry and submitted a report on 9/7/2025, holding charges as proved, Ferreira said.It also states that the disciplinary authority has come to the conclusion that the charges proved as of a grave nature and warrant the imposition of the severest major penalty, and hence the UDC was dismissed from service, he added.Ferreira said that on August 9, 2023, he had submitted an unstarred LAQ in the Assembly on whether any FIR was registered in relation to the excise scam discovered at Pernem Excise office, to which Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant, under whose department Excise Department comes, had replied that the matter has been referred to the Vigilance department/ACB for further investigation.On February 6, 2024, he had again asked a starred LAQ in assembly on the nature and extent of the excise scam in Pernem Excise Station, with details in the manner in which the scam was committed and the approximate loss to the government. The reply given by the Chief Minister was that the Excise Department has detected a case of misappropriation of licence renewal fees of approximately Rs 22.78 lakh. Details of the action taken and the status thereof was also sought, to which the reply given was 1 UDC and 2 excise inspectors have been placed under suspension and the matter of misappropriation of funds has been referred to the Vigilance Department/ACB for further investigation.