IAS officer in a spot for misleading HC

[karira]

As reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com on 04 April 2008:
IAS officer in a spot for misleading HC-Hyderabad-Cities-The Times of India

IAS officer in a spot for misleading HC

HYDERABAD: The AP High Court on Thursday issued a show cause notice to senior IAS officer Vijay Kumar asking him to explain as to why action should not be initiated against him for deliberately misleading the court. Vijay Kumar is the commissioner of Ayush, a wing of the health department dealing with Indian medical systems.

The court also directed the chief secretary not to allow the commissioner to handle the file pertaining to promotions of assistant professors in the department till further orders. The division bench, comprising justice T Meena Kumari and justice G Chandraiah, was examining a petition filed by T K Srinivasulu, a retired assistant professor of Ayush.

During one of the earlier hearings, the commissioner informed the court through the government counsel that there were no vacant posts of professors in the department. He, however, offered to promote Srinivasulu and two other assistant professors working in the Kurnool region if they preferred to switch over to non teaching jobs.

Later, when the petitioner approached the additional director of the department under the Right to Information Act, it was found that there were 20 posts of professors in Ayush. When the petitioner brought it to their notice, the bench summoned the commissioner along with the records concerned. It also appointed a committee of two advocates to suggest to the court the correct course of action to be initiated against the IAS officer.

On Thursday, when the commissioner appeared before the bench, the judges went through the files connected to this matter and found several wrongful methods adopted by the commissioner to obtain the consent of the assistant professors for shifting them to non teaching side.

Advocate general C V Mohan Reddy told the bench that furnishing false information to the court would be tantamount to perjury and action for this should be initiated under section 195 of Cr PC. He, however, sought sometime to examine the matter at length.

The bench posted the hearing to June 30 and ordered the commissioner to personally appear before them on that day and file his counter.

[taurus]

Strange are the ways of the bureaucrats. Some of them think they are above everything and are law unto themselves. This results in such actions. Only judiciary can come to our rescue in times like this.