THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Vigilance has found that former officials smuggled some of the old items, including household appliances, of the office of the State Human Rights Commission under the guise of auctioning. Following this, the law and public administration departments issued show cause notices to three persons who were working on deputation in the posts of office superintendent, secretary and section officer in the commission.

Among those who received the notice, those who held the posts of superintendent and secretary retired from service. The person who worked as a section officer is currently the deputy secretary in the law department. Vigilance recommended departmental action against the culprits and internal auditing in the commission office. The loss incurred is yet to be ascertained.

The smuggling of goods in the name of the auction took place during 2013-16. The smuggled items include those items that were used by former members of the commission. After selling a few items to a few persons, Rs 22,000 was transferred to the commission's account. The vigilance conducted the investigation based on a complaint filed by the commission's acting chairman on the suspicion that the items of the office were illegally sold to private individuals.

The auction without tender process was based on the direction in the 2015 audit report to clear the useless materials piled up in the store room of the commission. The minutes containing the details of the bidders do not have their signatures.

Those who came to buy the goods testified that some goods which were not subjected to the auction process were put in sacks by the commission officials and taken away in a pick-up auto.

Irregularities

1. Bidding process without calling tenders and following procedures.

2. Did not display the basic price of goods on the notice board after calculating it

3. A part of what was put up for sale by auction was taken away by the employees