A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday upheld a single judge’s verdict rejecting a plea for a Central Bureau Investigation(CBI) probe into the allegation that Jacob Thomas, Director, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), had taken up a private employment while on leave, in violation of service rules.
The Bench upheld the order while dismissing an appeal filed by Sathyan Naravoor of Kannur, against the single judge’s verdict. The petitioner had alleged that while on a three-month leave from the post of managing director of the Kerala Transport Development Financial Corporation in 2009, Mr. Thomas had worked as a director of the TKM Institute of Management in Kollam with a monthly salary of Rs.1,69,500 violating rules.
The State government took the stand that there there was no total prohibition in the All India Service (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1968 on officers taking up private employment. The only condition was that a member of the service should get prior sanction of the government for such employment. The State government had ratified the action of Mr. Thomas. Besides, he had paid back the remuneration received from the private institution where he had worked.
The single judge had pointed out that the purpose of availing of leave was for research, which seemed to have been done by him during the period. There was nothing on record which gave rise to a reasonable suspicion of mala fides into the verification done by the police into the allegations. There was no scope for any further investigation, much less by a premier agency like the CBI. That apart, whether his taking up an employment involved corrupt practice had not been made out in the writ petition. So, the CBI inquiry did not appear to be warranted, the single judge observed.
