A firm floated by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s Private Secretary Vaibhav Dange has raised questions about possible violations of the code of conduct of civil servants by raising funds from the government, according to The Hindu.

Dange was appointed as Gadkari’s secretary on August 8, 2014, the report said, adding that he floated the Indian Federation of Green Energy on October 9, 2014, with another person from Maharashtra. Dange holds 50% shares in the entity, which is a Section 8 company. It means that it has to operate “not-for-profit”.

The Indian Federation of Green Energy, according to documents from the Registrar of Companies, has either raised or invited funds, including from government departments and state-owned entities.

Dange was asked if he may have violated Rule 12 of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules. Rule 12 states: “No Government servant shall, except with the previous sanction of the Government or of the prescribed authority, ask for or accept contributions to, or otherwise associate himself with the raising of, any funds or other collections in cash or in kind in pursuance of any object whatsoever.”

Dange, however, denied this. “I categorically and emphatically state that I have not violated any Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules or any other service rules in any manner whatsoever ever since I have joined the government service,” he told The Hindu.

The Indian Federation of Green Energy’s balance sheet for financial year 2015 shows that it had Rs 74 lakh in hand, and Rs 73 lakh as “corpus grant in trust”. The next financial year, the corpus grant was Rs 1.33 crore.

In the balance sheet for 2015-16, the company said: “Treatment of Grant in Aid has been made in the accounts as per AS-12 Accounting for Government Grants.” The filing is declared to be in conformity with the accounting standard that is required for government grants. This, The Hindu reported, suggested that the government has extended a grant-in-aid to the company.

Dange declined that the government has allotted any money to the firm. But the company’s website shows that it has been involved with several conferences and seminars in partnership with the departments working under Gadkari.

Curiously, nine days after The Hindu reportedly asked Dange for his comments on the story, on November 16, the firm filed documents with the Registrar of Companies that showed Dange had resigned as the director. The resignation letter showed that Dange quit on September 13.

“It may be noted that I was involved in setting up IFGE when I was not part of the government and after joining the government, I took steps to resign from IFGE even though it is open even for full-time, career government officials to undertake any work of literary, scientific or charitable nature,” he told the English daily in a second statement.

“The IFGE, an independent organisation, was started on 30th November 2013 [application to the Registrar of Companies] when I was a private individual and not part of the government,” he said. Official documents, however, show that the company was incorporated on October 9, 2014, months after he had joined the government.

Gadkari and Union Minister Suresh Prabhu, who are among the people listed as the firm’s patrons, did not comment.