In an administrative meeting with her Cabinet colleagues and secretaries of different departments at Nabanna on 18 August, the chief minister asked them to take cost-cutting measures. She also pulled up some ministers for approving several projects without considering financial liabilities. But despite the reproach, many government officers are hiring highly expensive cars at will.

Taking advantage of an order issued by the transport department in 2008, many IAS, IPS and WBCS officers are allegedly hiring luxury cars like Innova Crysta, Fortuner etc. for official use. Since such vehicles are unavailable on rent at the rates specified in the order, the officers are reportedly signing logbooks that show a highly inflated run of these cars.

Investigations made by this correspondent in different state government offices in the city and districts reveal that the practice is rampant among bureaucrats, DMs, SDOs, BDOs and police officers across all ranks.

The government has to bear inflated bills as well as significant loss of income due to loss of tax on these hired vehicles that allegedly sport private numbers. According to a senior official of the transport department, a section of government officers encourage operators of the expensive luxury cars to produce bills showing fudged kilometre readings.

How does this work? An operator cannot rent an Innova Crysta or Fortuner car at a rent of Rs 590 a day (without fuel charge). These cars are worth around Rs 24 to 25 lakh each on road. An owner said that the EMI amount against the car loan would vary between Rs 35,000 to Rs 45,000 a month without a down payment.

The operator produces a bill showing 150 to 250 km daily run and 8 hours of overtime while the actual distance covered is hardly 50 km. This leads to higher compensation for the operator in terms of the cost of fuel for the “extra run”.Further, many of these government officers have hired luxury vehicles with private numbers instead of commercial numbers, causing a huge loss in terms of tax on vehicles for the virtually bankrupt state government for years.

The government gets a higher tax from luxury cars carrying commercial numbers than from vehicles with private numbers. The operator saves money in terms of Motor Vehicles Tax as they rent out vehicles with private numbers. The transport department official said that it does not have any hired cars used for government duty in different departments.

“We use vehicles from our own pool for government duties. We don’t hire cars,” he said. A former commissioner of KMC has hired an Innova Crysta worth around Rs 24 lakh after his transfer to another government office at Salt Lake. “Yes, I have hired the car and pay bills Rs 590 daily excluding fuel charges as per the old order of the Transport Department.

It does not require permission from the finance department. The daily mileage never exceeds 110 to 115 km that includes pick up and drop between my South Kolkata residence and Salt Lake (55 km). The car comes to my residence to pick me up from EM Bypass garage where it is parked,” the officer said.

Another IAS officer attached with the health department reportedly uses a luxury car with a private number. He did not respond to both calls and WhatsApp messages made by this correspondent seeking his reactions on the charges.

Manoj Pant, finance secretary, also did not respond to calls and WhatsApp messages from this correspondent seeking his reactions on the huge expenses for hiring expensive cars and the loss of government revenue due to the use of cars with private numbers.