The persecution of a man who committed the truth

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ias whistleblower | petition versus tamil nadu government

The persecution of a man who committed the truth

gfiles focusses on the indomitable spirit of an upright individual who rose from the ranks of the Scheduled Castes to become an officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre. A persistent exposer of wrongdoing since the start of his tenure in the early 199os, C Umashankar has run afoul of the state’s formidable DMK establishment and its bureaucrat apparatchiks. Not a single individual indicted by Umashankar in his various official probes has been brought to book; instead the book has been thrown at Umashankar who now faces not only vigilance inquiries and disqualification from promotion panels but also the charge that he faked his Scheduled Caste credentials.

Reproduced below is the unexpurgated version of Umashankar’s appeal to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes:

Before the National Commission for SC/ST, New Delhi

From

C.Umashankar IAS., (1990 batch)
No.33 Balakrishnan Road,
D1, Ashok Swasthi Apts., 3rd Floor,
Valmiki Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur,
Chennai 41. Tel: 044-42020423 Mob: 94443-00123

To

Chairman,
National Commission for Scheduled Castes
Lok Nayak Bhawan, Khan Market,
New Delhi - 110003
Fax: 91-11-24632298 Email: chairman-ncsc@nic.in
Complaint filed by C.Umashankar, IAS., against the State of Tamil Nadu

I WAS selected for appointment as an IAS officer by the Union Public Service Commission against SC quota and allotted to the Tamil Nadu cadre during 1990. I joined the Service on 20th August 1990.
I state that during 1995 I was working as Additional Collector (Development) and Project officer, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Madurai. There was misuse of funds allotted for construction of cremation sheds for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY). I refused to obey the illegal order of the then District Collector, Madurai, Mr PR Sampath, IAS, to award the contract to a private contractor. A public interest litigation came to be filed in the Madras High Court. I filed an affidavit in the said writ petition narrating the true facts. A Division Bench of Madras High Court, accepting the affidavit filed by me, ordered a CBI inquiry in WP No 15929/1995. The real accused in the scam are yet to be punished.
During 1996, the DMK was voted to power. The Government appointed me as Joint Vigilance Commissioner to peruse the files pertaining to high-level corruption. I submitted several reports, including 1) South India Shipping Corporation Share disinvestment scam (loss of Rs 200 crore); 2) Granite quarry lease scam (loss of about Rs 1000 crore); 3) Allotment of plots and houses of Tamil Nadu Housing Board to fictitious persons (loss not estimated); 4) Purchase of 45,000 TV antennas and boosters without following tender procedure and without ascertaining the actual need; 5) Leasing of 20 acres of Coimbatore Medical College lands to Star hotel, club etc, in the name of women and child development at throwaway lease rent; 6) Fraudulent grant of patta for 7,106 acres forest land in Megamalai forest village, Madurai/Theni district to one family etc.
I indicted several senior IAS officers, including the ex-Chief Secretary, Mr N Narayanan, IAS, Thiru C Ramachandran, IAS, Dr S Narayan, IAS, Thiru Debandranath Sarangi, IAS, former Chief Minister, Ministers and others.
To my dismay I found that no worthwhile action was taken against highly influential officials who were deeply involved in the corruption. I therefore requested the government to relieve me from the post of Joint Vigilance Commissioner. During February 1999 I was appointed District Collector, Tiruvarur. I introduced e-governance in the district administration. This was the first of its kind in the whole of India.
Tiruvarur was rated 20 years ahead of the rest of India by a leading newspaper – The Times of India. The English weekly, The Week, in its millennium edition, chose me as the bureaucrat from all over India who can make the life of Indians better in the new millennium.
I submit that in the next general election, the DMK was defeated and the AIADMK came to power. I was sidelined and appointed Commissioner for Disciplinary Proceedings, an ex-cadre post.
The DMK was voted to power again in May 2006. I was appointed Managing Director of ELCOT, a state-owned company. I introduced total transparency in the matter of award of contracts by introducing e-tender and also by introduction of a new method of tender evaluation by the bidding contractors themselves. I also introduced the use of large-scale free and open source software in government offices during this period.
WHILE I was working in ELCOT, twice I was called by Tmt Rajathi Ammal, wife of the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, to her office at Alwarpet. I should have refused to meet her. However, by way of courtesy I met her in her office. She attempted to influence me to award contract to her men in the matter of purchase of 45,000 fishermen’s wireless sets. I told her that only through e-tender contracts are finalised and I should not be disturbed. I state that ELCOT along with another private limited company by the name of New Era Technologies Limited, controlled by one Thiagaraja Chettiar, floated a joint venture company named ELNET Technologies Limited. The share of ELCOT in the new company is 26%. The share of New EraTechnologies Limited is 24% and the remainder shares were subscribed by the public. This joint venture company, ELNET, floated a 100% subsidiary company named ETL Infrastructure Private Limited with intention of floating an Information Technology Park-cum-Special Economic Zone at Pallikaranai, Chennai. The company owns 26 acres of land which had been given IT Special Economic Zone status by the Government of India. The company built a 1.8 million square feet IT building in this IT Park-cum-SEZ. The total value of the asset is more than Rs 700 crore. The said company mysteriously disappeared from the control of ELNET and ELCOT obviously with the connivance of the former Chairman of ELCOT and political heavyweights. In my capacity as Managing Director, I was also the Chairman of ELNET. I wanted to probe the circumstances in which ELCOT and ELNET lost control of ETL Infrastructure Limited. I circulated a special resolution to be moved in the Annual General Body meeting of the shareholders of ELNET for removal of Unnamali Thiagarajan W/o Thiagaraja Chettiar from the office of Managing Director of ELNET. The Annual General Body meeting of the shareholders of ELNET was to be held on 30th July 2008.

I told the Hon’ble Chief Minister that I would not be able to work under Dr Chandramouli, IAS, against whom I had submitted a report on the mysterious disappearance of ETL Infrastructure Limited.

I also sent special reports to the government regarding the scam, namely the mysterious disappearance of ETL Infrastructure Limited worth more than Rs 700 crore. I wanted a probe into the role of Mr Vivek Harinarayanan, IAS, and Dr C Chandramouli, IAS.
I state while I was physically verifying and searching the records pertaining to the mysterious disappearance of ETL Infrastructure Limited in ELNET’s office on 28th July 2008, I received an order of transfer removing me from the post of MD, ELCOT, and posting me as Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation Limited (TIIC). I have reason to believe that it was a fraudulent transfer. The order of transfer was passed adverse to public interest and to help the said Thiagaraja Chettiar. It is perceived that Mr MK Alagiri, Union Minister, was responsible for my abrupt transfer from ELCOT.
While I was working in TIIC, there was a feud between the Maran brothers who own the Sun TV television network and the family of Dr Kalaignar Karunanidhi, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The feud between the Maran brothers who have become very powerful and among the richest people in the country and MK Alagiri, the elder son of the Chief Minister, was well known. The burning of Dinakaran newspaper office at Madurai and hurling of petrol bombs and the death of three innocent persons in the murderous attack is also well known. I state that the Hon’ble Chief Minister called me and ordered me to accept assignment as Managing Director of Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited. I told the Hon’ble Chief Minister that I would not be able to work under Dr Chandramouli, IAS, against whom I had submitted a report on the mysterious disappearance of ETL Infrastructure limited and also pledging of ELCOT’s joint venture company – ELNET – to secure Rs 81-crore loan for the mysteriously disappeared company, namely ETL Infrastructure Limited. Dr Chandramouli, IAS, was transferred from the post of Information Technology Secretary-cum-Chairman of Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited and in his place Mr PWC Davidar, IAS, was appointed. My appointment as MD, Arasu Cable TV Corporation, was notified simultaneously on 30th October 2008.

The Chief Minister is vindictive against me because I recommended penal action against the Maran brothers and made public the scam in ETL where the hands of Mr MK Alagiri, a Central Minister of the DMK party, is involved.

I assumed office as MD, Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited, a government-owned company, on 3rd November 2008. I found that Sumangali Cable TV, controlled by the Maran brothers, was indulging in largescale destruction of optic fibre cable infrastructure of Arasu Cable TV Corporation. Sumangali Cable Vision was determined to ensure that their monopoly was maintained by all means. I brought to the notice of the government the criminal acts committed by Sumangali Cable Vision Limited and the involvement of Pongalur Palanichamy, a Minister in the State Cabinet in helping Sumangali Cable TV who destroyed the property of the government company. I sent several reports including proposals for arrest of the Maran brothers under the preventive detention laws and action under the penal laws.
I state that there was a settlement of the dispute between the Maran brothers and the family of Dr Kalignar Karunanidhi. As an officer of the All-India Service I pursued my job in right earnest and wanted the Maran brothers to be punished and Sumangali Cable TV to be nationalized. I state that I was shunted out of Arasu Cable TV Corporation and posted as Commissioner of Small Savings, an ex-cadre post. The Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited is now almost dead.
I state that the Hon’ble Chief Minister and the Maran brothers became vengeful against me and wanted to disturb me. While working in TIIC I sent an intimation to the State government under Rule 4 (2)(b) of the All-India Service (Conduct) Rules, 1968, stating that my wife, Suryakala, MCom, BL, was employed in Tessolve Inc, Chennai branch, as HR Executive. She was working in that company from 1-4-2008 to 31-12-2008. Her gross salary was Rs 25,000 per month.
I state that the State government which was determined to throttle me at the behest of the Maran brothers issued a charge memo apropos my wife joining service in Tessolve Inc. The charge memo was issued to prevent empanelment of my name in the cadre of Joint Secretary to the Government of India. Because of this, I have been denied Joint Secretary empanelment during this year. I have been denied even a car loan and allotment of a housing plot by the government of Tamil Nadu.
I filed OA No 79 of 2010 on the file of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chennai, and obtained a stay against the charge memo on 16th January 2010. I received a communication from the Chief Secretary to the government regarding my moveable and immoveable assets. I sent a reply dated 28-10-2009.
On 6-5-2010 a Deputy Superintendent of Police called me over phone and sought an appointment for conducting inquiries regarding my alleged assets disproportionate to my known sources of income. When I asked him under what authority he was asking me to answer his queries, he said he was so authorized by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption. This led to my filing WP No 12274 of 2010 on the file of the High Court. The Hon’ble High Court was pleased to admit the writ petition and grant a stay.
I also filed WP No 15946 of 2010 questioning the Manual of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption under which the officers of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, namely police officers, conduct inquiries against All-India Service officers dehors the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure. It is my case that the State government is free to institute any disciplinary proceedings against me in accordance with the provisions of the All India Service Act, Public Servants Inquiries Act, the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure and the State government is not competent to conduct any inquiry against me without registering a case against me by the due process of law. The writ petition is pending adjudication.

The said company (ETL) mysteriously disappeared from the control of ELNET and ELCOT obviously with the connivance of the former Chairman of ELCOT and political heavyweights.

I state that the government of Tamil Nadu has passed GO Ms No 670, Public (Special A) department, dated 21-7-2010, suspending me from the service pending inquiry to scrutinize the genuineness of the Scheduled Caste community certificate produced by me.
I state that the government has also issued a press note on 23-7-2010 intimating to the press the cause of my suspension. I state that the law relating to caste certificates is settled. It is only the Committee which can go into the question of caste certificate.
I submitted the community certificate to the Union Public Service Commission. When the results of the All India Services examination was published by the UPSC, my name was withheld and placed in the provisional category pending verification of the community certificate. The certificate was duly verified and thereafter the result was published. I submit that the government has not taken any action against the corrupt bureaucrats. The State government is targeting me because I have been honest and sincere.
The State government has caused a publication in The New Indian Express dated 25-7-2010 titled “Umashankar did produce false community certificate”, stating that I have produced a false certificate. The newspaper report is engineered by the State government, the Maran brothers and the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption of Tamil Nadu. In WP No 15946 of 2010 I have alleged that one Mr Ram Mohan Rao, IAS, was found in possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The amount is said to be about Rs 81 crore. The government is protecting him. The government is protecting all corrupt officials and making use of them. The government does not want officers like me to serve the public.
I state that I am not claiming any special right. I can be charge sheeted under the All-India Services Act, Public Servants Inquiries Act , the Prevention of Corruption Act or under the penal laws if the government has credible information and materials against me. The government, through the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, has started a smear campaign against me by planting false stories as if I have produced a false certificate. I have come to know that the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is insisting that an FIR be filed against me. The State government, headed by the present Chief Minister, is intolerant and vindictive against me because I recommended penal action against the Maran brothers and made public the scam in ETL Infrastructure where the hands of Mr MK Alagiri, a Central Minister of the DMK party, is involved. Thus the State power is being misused against me.
I therefore request the Commission to protect me from illegal harassment by the Tamil Nadu government, the Chief Minister’s family and the powerful Maran brothers who are close to the Chief Minister.
Please ensure that inquiry, if any, regarding my caste certificate is conducted by the Central Vigilance Commission or CBI or any other Central agency not under the control of the State government.
Appropriate action may be initiated to allow me to work under the Central government or any agency of the Central government not under the control of the government of Tamil Nadu.
I also request you to ensure proper security for me and my family through Central security forces.
Dated the 26th July 2010 at Chennai.

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