CAT reserves order in AB Venkateswara Rao suspension case

HYDERABAD: The Central Administrative Tribunal bench at Hyderabad on Friday reserved its judgment in the petition filed by senior IPS officer AB Venkateswara Rao, the then Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence), challenging his suspension by the Andhra Pradesh government on February 8 this year.  

The bench, comprising Justice L Narasimha Reddy, concluded the arguments after hearing both sides.
Senior advocate G Vidya Sagar, appearing for Venkateswara Rao, contended that the State government had suspended the petitioner in violation of Rule 3 (1) of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969. The impugned order is unsustainable since it does not record prima facie satisfaction of the government regarding findings of the preliminary inquiry and that they constitute serious charges warranting suspension pending inquiry. Besides, there is no truth in the allegation of extending illegal benefit to petitioner’s son Sai Krishna, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Akasam Advances System, which is a local franchise of RT Inflatable Objects Limited, Israel.

The petitioner’s son has no role in the episode. The tender process for procurement of Aerostat and Unmanned aerial vehicle was cancelled and no payment was made. Senior counsel D Prakash Reddy, appearing for the government, submitted that prima facie evidence is available on the grave misconduct of Venkateswara Rao. After noticing irregularities during the process for procurement of Aerostat and UAV worth `25.5 crore, the purchase order issued in favour of RT Inflatables Objective Limited was cancelled and payment was withheld.