Shashikant Kale, the former chief firefighter of the controversial Mumbai Fire Department, has been fired from a divisional investigation into corruption allegations and concealing facts about his job when filing confidential reports. The name was conferred on the merits of the President. This week, a thorough report detailing the results of the investigation would be presented to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) standing committee and the civic council for confirmation of Kale’s dismissal. According to the article, Kale presented BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal with a proposal in December 2020 that included recommended names of firemen for the president’s awards, as well as himself being included as a full-fledged CFO.
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Kale, a deputy chief fire officer who was granted the additional job of CFO in August 2020, reportedly did not state in his application that he had been suspended twice on corruption accusations in 14 years and that his Annual Confidential Report had received unfavourable notations (ACR). According to the investigation, Kale hid facts of his suspension (from 2014 to 2015) and forged’very good’ remarks in his 2012-13 and 2013-14 service secret reports. The investigation team discovered that Kale said in his application for the prize that he had not been punished.
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On November 25, 2020, Milin Sawant, joint municipal commissioner (general administrative department), issued an order transferring extra CFO responsibility from Shashikant Kal to deputy chief fire officer K V Hivrale. As a result, the BMC considered dismissing Kale from the service. He is now Zone 6’s deputy chief fire officer. The Mumbai Fire Department annually submits the names of police officers and firefighters for the Presidential Services Award. Medals are awarded to firefighters, militia and civil defense forces.
