With focus and perseverance, he fought graft with military dedication

Pune: Major General SCN Jatar (retd), an anti-corruption crusader and Pune’s prominent face of civic activism, passed away following prolonged illness at 91.

Known as Sudhir among friends, Maj Gen Jatar had a distinguished career in the Indian Army as well as in the public sector. Post his retirement, he got involved in various social initiatives in Pune and continued his professional service. He died at his residence late on Monday and the final rites were performed a day later.

Years after joining the Indian Army as an engineering graduate from the prominent College of Engineering, Pune (now known as the College of Engineering Pune Technological University, COEPTU), Maj Gen Jatar became a commanding officer of 105 Engineer Regiment, and led the operation during the 1971 War in clearing mines from a captured area of Punjab Hill in the Poonch-Krishna Ghati sector in Jammu and Kashmir.

Later, he served as a commander of Infantry Brigades in the Kashmir Valley and Rajasthan desert between 1977 and 1981. He headed the Indian Military Training Team and was the chief instructor at the Nigerian Defence Academy at Kaduna, Nigeria before he retired from the service. Jatar also served as a member of the advisory council for Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT) Pune.

In 1979, Jatar joined the Oil India Ltd, a public sector unit, as general manager in the Assam oil fields. The oil pipeline was blockaded by miscreants during the Assam agitation. Jatar successfully thwarted the stir despite threats to his life. He eventually became the chief executive officer of the firm.

Post retirement, Jatar, as the youngest son of Lieutenant Colonel Nilkanth Jathar of the Indian Medical Service, decided to return to his native place Pune where he got involved in issues of public interest.

As president of Nagrik Chetna Manch, a non-governmental organisation working on citizen issues in Pune, Jatar fought multiple cases against corruption as well as civic apathy while demanding greater transparency in governance.

Jatar’s close aides and those who worked with him recalled “perseverance” and “focus” as two of his qualities he never let go till the end.

“In whatever he did, he always carried it out with total focus,” Jatar’s daughter Nita wrote in her 2020 blog about her father.

Vijay Kumbhar, a Right to information (RTI) activist and member of Aam Admi Party, recalled how Jatar and he fought against Pune’s illegal constructions.

Due to their relentless fight, a public commission of inquiry was set up under former Supreme Court Judge PB Sawant to look into illegal constructions and encroachments across the city of Pune.

“The commission was constituted because the political parties in the Pune Municipal Corporation were delaying the setting up of a committee led by a retired high court judge to conduct an inquiry into the issue. We had sought cooperation from the civic administration to provide assistance to the commission, but there was no response from PMC. We then obtained documents under the RTI Act and furnished them to the commission. Retired Supreme Court Judge PB Sawant agreed to preside over the commission without any remuneration. No one was ready to give us space to carry out the work of the commission, so we finally used my flat for this purpose,” said Kumbhar.

In 2013, Maj Gen Jatar unearthed how PMC’s waste-to-energy plant at Hadapsar, outsourced to private firm, was operating at lower capacity even as the civic body was spending the money. “He filed many PILs, used RTI effectively, to fight against wrongdoings and lack of transparency,” said Kumbhar.

Jatar’s recent fight was against bid rigging scam at PMC. Through Nagrik Chetna Manch, where he was the longest serving president between 2001 and 2018, Jatar and some other activists approached the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and forced the central institution to look into the matter. After probe, CCI in May 2018 imposed a fine of ₹3.57 crore on six firms for colluding with civic officials and rigging the bid while filing tenders for thermal composting garbage plants in 2014.

He also fought against civic apathy in delivering school uniforms late to students and ensured the pupils received them on time in 2013. His love for environment also prompted him take a stand against proposed Balbharati-Paud Road as he filed a petition in Bombay High Court and also obtained information from the civic body by filing several RTI applications.

“Apart from his tremendous and well researched work on civic issues of Pune, he had filed several PILs. He was my guru, mentor, guide and inspiration in my work. His demise is a huge loss for the city. My heartfelt condolences to his family,” said Qaneez Sukhrani, part of Nagrik Chetna Manch and convenor of Association of Nagar Road Citizens Forum. Sukhrani worked with Maj Gen on several projects and called him as her inspiration for civic activism.