Hyderabad: Telangana irrigation Special Chief Secretary Rajat Kumar is in the soup, with the Delhi High Court taking up a case relating to a top infra company footing the astronomical bill for the lavish wedding of the senior bureaucrat’s daughter.
Justice Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court, who took note of the department of personnel and training (DoPT) forwarding a complaint filed against Rajat Kumar to Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, gave two weeks to the DoPT to reply to a petition moved in the court and posted the matter for October 12.
The petitioner, G. Srinivas, raised objections over the DoPT sending a complaint lodged by Supreme Court advocate Sravan Kumar on Rajat to the Telangana state government. He urged the High Court to direct the DoPT to sanction prosecution against what he described as serious allegations of corrupt practices of Rajat Kumar.
According to the petitioner’s counsel Mohit Jakhar, when the court was informed that Rajat Kumar was serving as a special chief secretary, Justice Varma asked the DoPT counsel if the Centre forwarded the complaint made against the officer of the level of chief secretary to the state government. He sought to know the procedure, but the DoPT counsel sought time to file a reply.
In the petition, the historic Supreme Court judgment in the Vineet Naraian vs Union of India case was referred to and the petitioner argued that the Centre had to grant sanction for prosecution against an Indian Administrative Service officer under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.
Sources told Deccan Chronicle that Sravan lodged a complaint with DoPT on January 28 this year and undersecretary Rupesh Kumar forwarded it to the CS “for action as appropriate” on March 2. The DoPT, in some cases, according to a senior general administration department official, will ask the state government to inquire into the allegations and file a report.
“The use of action as appropriate is nothing but leaving the matter completely to the state government. The second option is rather serious because the state which otherwise would prefer to ignore the complaint is bound to send a report to the DoPT,” the official said, adding that in such case a preliminary inquiry is also warranted to inquire into the allegations made in the complaint.
The petitioner informed the court that Rajat Kumar had performed a lavish wedding for his daughter and hosted dinner parties in five-star hotels in Hyderabad. The bills, however, were paid by companies that have direct or indirect links with a top infra company, which is famous for executing large-scale irrigation and pipeline projects.
