THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Close on the heels of the VACB special cell raiding PWD secretary T. O. Sooraj’s office and residences in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam to unearth his illegal assets, it has come to light that he had violated the rules of business laid down by the state government.
When Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJI), part of Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), was laying fibre optical cables in the state for better communication facilities, it was decided by the government to get restoration charge along with rent.
But Mr Sooraj kept PWD Minister V. K. Ebrahimkunju in the dark and came out with a Government Order G.O.(Ms)No.88/2013/PWD 29.10.2013, G.O.(Ms)No.89/2013/PWD – 05.11.2013) stating that only restoration charge had to be paid by the RIL.
The RIL gave a letter seeking permission to lay fibre optical cables last year. But the then IT secretary P.H. Kurien came out with an order (G.O. (Ms)No.2/2001/ITD - 20.01.2001, G.O. (Ms)No.16/2010/ITD – 30.04.2010) that rent also needs to be yielded along with the restoration charge.
“The Government got reports that Sooraj had played foul to favour the company by limiting its expenses to restoration charge towards the laying of cables.
When the PWD minister came to know of the whole issue, he reprimanded Sooraj and reported the issue to the Chief Secretary and Chief Minister,” said a top PWD source.
Chief Secretary E. K. Bharat Bhushan sought an explanation from Mr Sooraj and reported the matter to the CM.
Though the cable is currently being laid, the finance and law departments would soon come up with a final report on how much money should be collected from RIL with retrospective effect.
