One of the two chief engineers, who were searched by the Income Tax officials for alleged unaccounted wealth soon after demonetisation in 2016, has now sought revoking of his suspension and parity with the other chief engineer who was reinstated recently.
Chief Engineer S.C. Jayachandra, who was placed under suspension along with Chief Engineer T.N. Chikkarayappa after huge unaccounted wealth was found on their premises by the I-T officials, has written to the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) to reinstate him. He has sought parity with Mr. Chikkarayappa, who was posted as Director of Karnataka Engineering Research Station at Krishnaraja Sagar in Mandya district in the last week of October 2017, after a ruling by Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT).
Mr. Jayachandra has said that since the memorandum of charges or the charge sheet has not been served within three months, his suspension has to be revoked. He has cited rulings of the High Court of Karnataka and Supreme Court in his petition to the DPAR Principal Secretary.
The I-T searches on November 30, 2016 caused a major uproar as more than ₹150 crore of unaccounted income was found across several premises, including that of the two engineers and contractors of Public Works Department (PWD) that prompted the then Home Minister G. Parameshwara to announce their suspension on the floor of the Legislative Council.
When both chief engineers belonging to the PWD came under the I-T scanner, Mr. Jayachandra was chief project officer of State Highway Development Project and Mr. Chikkarayappa was Managing Director of Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd. According to sources in the PWD, both have close proximity to senior Ministers in the State Cabinet. Following the I-T searches, the Enforcement Directorate and Anti-Corruption Bureau had launched investigation against both. While Mr. Jayachandra was in prison for more than three months, Mr. Chikkarayappa was not arrested.
The order to revoke suspension of Mr. Chikkarayappa, a copy of which is with The Hindu, says that the investigation by the I-T Department, Enforcement Directorate and Anti-Corruption Bureau is still in progress against both officials. The order says that based on the petitions to revoke his suspension, Mr. Chikkarayappa has been reinstated.
CBI probe
Meanwhile, sources in DPAR said that though both cases are similar, Mr. Chikkarayappa had been reinstated on administrative reasons and also after he approached the KAT. “Mr. Jayachandra has an additional investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation. He has approached the KAT too. But that does not give way for an automatic reinstatement,” sources said.
Repeated attempts to contact Mr. Jayachandra failed.
