Former AG seeks probe against ex-Union Secretary

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  An unusual case in which a former Accountant-General digging out allegedly forged reports which denied him a posting as a member of Central Administrative Tribunal has emerged, thanks to the RTI Act.Interestingly, a former union secretary and a popular ex-MLA-cum-former bureaucrat are the respondents in the case.The Division Bench of the Kerala High Court comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chelur and Justice Ramachandra Menon has directed the Secretary (Personnel), Government of India, and the Director, CBI, to submit affidavits in response to the writ appeal filed by James K Joseph, former Accountant-General, seeking a CBI probe into a conspiracy and fraud alleged to have been committed by the then Secretary (Personnel), A N Tiwari and others. The case is posted for hearing on January 4. Earlier, on September 23, 2011, the Division Bench comprising the then Chief Justice Chelamalleswar and Justice Ramachandra Menon had admitted a writ appeal against the judgment of the single judge dismissing the writ petition.In his writ appeal, James K Joseph has maintained that he was selected by the selection committee headed by then Supreme Court Justice K G Balakrishnan for appointment as Administrative Member, CAT in October, 2004. He alleged that A N Tiwari had conspired with Alphons Kannanthanam, former civil servant and ex-MLA, and forged an adverse report as if framed by the Intelligence Bureau.As per this report, James K Joseph was “forced” to take voluntary retirement while working as Accountant-General, Kerala, due to an adverse inquiry report against him.In June, 2005, Justice R C Lahoti, Chief Justice of India, ordered a verification of this report by the Selection Committee. James K Joseph further alleges that five months later, after the retirement of Justice Lahoti, Tiwari submitted to Justice Sabarwal, Chief Justice of India, another ‘forged document’  which endorsed the forged ‘IB Report.’ This was purported to be the minutes of the selection committee meeting stated to have been held in Ernakulam on  September 24, 2005. The allegedly fraudulent input, according to James K Joseph, resulted in the denial of appointment to him.The copy of a letter from the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India negating the adverse report and a letter from the Department of Personnel stating that it had no knowledge or records about the selection committee meeting have been produced as Exhibits  along with the petition. It is stated that all documents were obtained through the RTI Act. Interestingly, the source of the “Minutes of the selection committee meeting”  as well as the information that no records are available about the said meeting, which came through the RTI Act, is with the office of the respondent itself.