The Maharashtra government has asked the general administration department (GAD) to inquire against controversial bureaucrat T Chandrashekhar for withdrawing $10,000 as "contingency advance" on behalf of three IAS officers, without their knowledge, from the MMRDA's finance department two years ago. Chandrashekhar recently resigned from the service.

"The papers have been sent to the GAD for inquiry," chief secretary Johny Joseph told 'TOI'. In September 2006, Chandrashekhar went on a four-day World Bank-sponsored seminar to Bangkok along with his three IAS colleagues, Sanjay Ubale, Ramanand Tiwari and Milind Mhaiskar.

"As the MMRDA commissioner then, Chandrashekhar directed the finance department to give him $10,000 as contingency advance for the trip. But each officer is entitled to only $2,500 in case of any emergency and has to return the money after the trip. The money was withdrawn in the names of Ubale, Tiwari and Mhaiskar without their knowledge," government sources said.

It was only on 16 April 2008, a full 19 months later, that Chandrashekhar finally returned the money (Rs 4.79 lakh) to the MMRDA. On 28 April, the current MMRDA commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad wrote to Chandrashekhar, informing him that although he had returned the money, he may face objections from the audit department.

On May 15, 2008, Gaikwad shot off another letter to chief secretary Joseph: "Still there is no explanation (by Chandrashekhar). Hence, I request that there should be an appropriate inquiry," said the letter. "This is sheer mischief. There is no inquiry against me. You know there are lobbies working against me," Chandrashekhar told 'TOI', when asked to comment.

Terming the accusations as false, the high-profile bureaucrat, who finally quit the IAS a few days ago, claimed the MMRDA's finance department did not remind him about returning the money. "We were bogged down with so much work. Moreover, I had to travel abroad regularly and had taken so many advances. Not refunding the advance in time is not an offence because nowhere is it stipulated that the money has to be handed back within a particular period after the trip," he said.

The former bureaucrat's colleagues in the MMRDA defended him, stating that he may have "genuinely forgotten" about returning the money. "For a man of his stature, he is hardly a person who would sit on something like $10,000," they said.

Chandrashekhar denied that the money was withdrawn without the knowledge of his three travelling companions. None of them was available for comment.

But sources said that it was only when Mhaiskar denied taking $2,500 which MMRDA asked him to return that the entire matter came to light.