Shunted out for highlighting wrongs, IAS officer writes to Chief Secretary in Karnataka

BENGALURU: A senior IAS officer who was transferred recently and sent out of the State Department of Collegiate Education has approached the Chief Secretary (CS) and submitted a report on irregularities in the department. Ajay Nagabushan, the then commissioner for Department of Collegiate Education, is transferred as the commissioner of Cane Development and Director of Sugar on October 17. A week after the transfer, the officer submitted a report to the CS on Tuesday.

Sources from the CS’s office said, in the report, Nagabushan mentioned about the free laptop scheme launched by the state government this year and said, “At higher level, there are irregularities going on in the process of purchasing laptops for undergraduate students under free laptop scheme. There was pressure on me to take a package and give piece-meal tenders instead of the global tender I pushed for.”

The officer highlighted about the financial loss which the government will suffer if the global tender is cancelled. He even mentioned the alleged irregularities in release of funds to Ambedkar School of Economics. “Though there is no administrative approval for the construction of Ambedkar School of Economics, the state higher education council has recommended release the funds. I have brought this to the notice of the officials concerned at the higher education department,” he added.

Incidentally, Higher Education Minister Basavaraja Rayareddy made a public statement against the same officer a few weeks ago at a press conference. Speaking about the letter written by the officer about Ambedkar School of Economics, Rayareddy said, “The officer is in no way concerned with the School. He was not even a member of the higher education council and I made him a member after taking charge of the higher education portfolio.” He even warned the officer not to interfere in such issues and said, ‘it’s not child’s play’. Rayareddy was unavailable for comments. Nagabushan has requested the CS to call for files related to the two projects. CS Subhash Chandra Khuntia confirmed receiving the report.

Run-in with MLCs

Some MLCs held a press conference 10 days ago where they called Nagabushan  ‘sadist and mad’. Department sources said some elected representatives wanted the officer to stop the probe into a fake MPhil certificate scam where some lecturers got jobs at government degree colleges by submitting fake certificates.