KOZHIKODE: Higher officials with the Kozhikode city corporation did not exercise vigil and failed to follow up on the serious irregularities flagged by the staff in 2021 which may have led to the building number scam, according to a probe report on the fraud submitted to the state government by the regional joint director, Kozhikode.
The report submitted by Saju D, RJD, Kozhikode after taking statements from 27 staff and going through various set of documents cites that in December 2021, a few section clerks had pointed out that the information of buildings on Sanchaya software was being tampered with contrary to the original data in the assessment register. The response was limited to a circular to revenue staff on proper use of password and log in.
“Although the direction was given, the higher officials did not perceive the matter with the gravity it deserved and failed to exercise caution and review the matter which may have led to the scam,” the report notes.
The report goes on to list down the shoddy ways in which assessment process, assignment of numbers, maintenance of passwords was carried out in the corporation giving ample ground for foul play. The corporation staff collected passwords directly from the team of Information Kerala Mission (IKM). The staff seldom reported to the superiors regarding the allotment of passwords to staff and the need to reset the passwords during transfer to a new station or section.
The revenue wing failed to lock the database and complete the tax reforms. The clerk who did the data entry would go through data verification, approval, and digital signature with the knowledge of the superior officer. “This is unacceptable. A section clerk could easily assign a number to an unauthorised construction without the knowledge of the superior official,” the report says.
The note also exposes a shortcoming in the IKM software. It says the option to edit the details of buildings by logging on to the account of verifier leads to fraudulent practices. The report recommends that the editing option shall be limited to prescribed number of wards for the respective authority.
At present, supervisory officers can edit data of a building related to a zonal office from the main office and vice versa and the report points out that such an editing option is being misused. It also calls for introduction of one-time password at the time of giving the digital signature.
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