Thiruvananthapuram: Additional chief secretary K.M. Abraham has alleged that information regarding the quick verification against him was being leaked out to the media to malign him. In a letter to Vigilance director Jacob Thomas on Tuesday, Mr. Abraham also urged him to expedite the quick verification against him in connection with the alleged amassment of illegal wealth.
“The confidential inquiry against me by the Vigilance is finding its way into the media. This is clearly intended to malign my reputation. I am keen that a transparent and thorough investigation be done in the quick verification against me,” said Mr. Abraham in the letter citing news reports that permission was being denied to the Vigilance teams to visit his Mumbai and Kollam properties.
A copy of the letter was also sent to additional chief secretary (home and vigilance) Nalini Netto. Meanwhile, the fresh quick verification ordered by the Vigilance director against Mr. Abraham also raised many eyebrows as the allegations pertained to the policy matters of the previous UDF government. “The charges levelled against Abraham pertained to the collective administrative and policy decisions of the then government. The decisions were taken by the cabinet. Then how can only one official be charged for this. One could genuinely doubt that it is an act of vengeance by the petitioner, Mr Sarath Chandran, a former deputy director with the Directorate of Collegiate Education, said a senior government official.
Certain service organisations that oppose the decisions by the previous UDF government, including granting of UGC scale to grade IV librarians by appointing them in colleges, also maintain that those were decisions of the cabinet and hence Mr. Abraham alone could not be blamed. While the petitioner alleged that he was placed under suspension after he did not follow unlawful instructions, sources close to Mr Abraham said that there were several complaints against Mr Sarath Chandran of unnecessarily objecting to government decisions. Based on a written complaint in this regard, he was suspended.
