Retired IAS officer sent behind the bars for Rs 105 cr scam

After her detention and subsequent ED raids in connection with a Rs. 105 crore embezzlement case, retired IAS officer Sewali Devi Sharma (IAS:1992:AM) is now at the centre of a massive financial fraud. Controversy, incarceration, and shame have now marked the end of her career that started with BA and LLB degrees and ended with high-ranking administrative positions. Once a shining example for UPSC candidates, the bureaucrat’s story has now become a sobering warning of the negative effects of corruption.

In relation to a money laundering investigation involving former IAS officer Sewali Devi Sharma and others, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched eight locations throughout Assam. Sewali Sharma is now charged with widespread financial irregularities, including alleged misappropriation of public funds via the state’s Open and Distance Learning (ODL) unit.

The National Council for Teacher Education had-approved a two-year Elementary Education Diploma programme which was intended to be supervised by the ODL cell. In order to train 27897 government teachers, the Assam government had approved 59 institutions. But Sewali illegally built 347 study centres- nearly four times the authorised number, recruiting almost 1.06 lakh trainees. Training fees totalled over Rs. 115 crores, of which Rs. 105 crore was spent without adhering to the correct financial procedures.

The awarding of contracts to businesses connected to Sewali’s daughter, son-in-law Ajitpal Singh, and other close relatives is a significant and startling discovery in the case. Some of these businesses were paid without work orders or other paperworks, without these companies having any prior domain expertise. The Assam Procurement Preference Policy, 2015, which requires tenders for purchases exceeding Rs. 5 lakhs, was directly violated by this.

Prior to joining the bureaucratic profession through the state civil services, Sewali had completed her BA and LLB. She became an IAS official with important responsibilities in Assam after qualifying for the Indian Administrative Service. She held the positions of Director of the Agriculture Department and Executive Chairman-cum-Director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training’s (SCERT) ODL (Open and Distance Learning) Cell.