VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government has suspended from service three officials of the finance department who allegedly leaked sensitive information to the media and others. Two section officers and an assistant secretary faced the axe.
The orders issued on Wednesday said Nagulapati Venkateswarlu, assistant secretary to C and DM section of the finance department along with Kasireddy Varaprasad, section officer of the same section, have passed on confidential information to Sreenu Babu, section officer, who in turn passed it over to the media.
Shamsher Singh Rawat, principal finance secretary to the government, issued the suspension orders. The orders stated that Nagulapati Venkateswarlu was fully aware of the sensitivity and confidentiality of the information, and yet caused its transmission. It is suspected that this was a deliberate leakage of information.
Sreenu Babu was passing on confidential information to the media – what he got from Venkateswarlu and Vara Prasad.
The orders said the government had ordered a vigilance inquiry after a series of news items were getting published continuously against the government. Sensitive and confidential information was misrepresented and twisted to malign the government and cause panic among the public, the orders said.
In view of the circumstances of the case, the government decided that the three must be placed under suspension with immediate effect. The suspensions would continue for the duration of the conduct of the disciplinary proceedings, the orders said.
The orders said these officials will remain at Amaravati and shall not leave the headquarters without obtaining prior permission of the competent authority.
