MoST to sue ex-SCI official

NEW DELHI, February 3: The Ministry of Surface Transport MoST has decided to prosecute the former vigilance chief of the public sector Shi...

NEW DELHI, February 3: The Ministry of Surface Transport MoST has decided to prosecute the former vigilance chief of the public sector Shipping Corporation of India SCI for violating the conduct rules by writing to the Prime Minister I K Gujral to make allegations about financial bunglings in the corporation. The executive director vigilance A K Srivastava 8212; a 1972 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service IRS 8212; had kicked off a major row by seeking a full-fledged probe in SCI after he was repatriated to his parent department prematurely in October 1997.

The transport ministry has written to the Prime Minister8217;s Office PMO and the Chief Vigilance Commissioner CVC, seeking permission to prosecute the IRS officer for the alleged violation, according to sources. quot;The officer had violated the conduct rules by writing directly to the Prime Minister to make unsubstantiated allegations against the SCI top brass and raising issues which had already been settled as per the government procedures, theysaid. Srivastava is presently posted as the Commissioner of Central Excise Appeals at Hyderabad.

In his complaint to the Prime Minister, Srivastava accused the transport ministry of repatriating him in violation of the established norms. Not only did he accuse senior SCI officials of indulging in serious financial malpractices, he blamed the ministry with inaction in cases related to payments to agents, blatant favouritism to private parties and dubious vessel acquisition plans.

MoST has categorically denied most of the charges, saying the authorities had looked into some of these allegations relating to foreign accounts, foreign visits and favouritism in 1996-97 but nothing was found. Other issues such as payments to agents and sale of scrapped vessels are being probed by the ministry. quot;There was no malafide in repatriation of Srivastava. In fact, he was sent back because his promotion to the rank of joint secretary would have created functional problems. We had followed the established norms, whichrequired us to consult the CVC, DoP and the Appointments Committee of Cabinet ACC.quot;

However, the complaint said the CVC and Department of Personnel had initially given their no-objection for his continuation in SCI 8212; it was only after the Ministry insisted on his immediate repatriation that the CVC advised them to wait till alternative arrangements were made.