A special court here on Tuesday ordered the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to conduct a quick verification into the allegation that former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president Prayar Gopalakrishnan and member Ajay Tharayil had indulged in large-scale corruption during their tenure on the board.
Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge D. Ajith Kumar heard that the two United Democratic Front (UDF) nominees had allocated much more than the sanctioned amount to execute building works, causing colossal losses to the exchequer and corresponding gain to private contractors.
Two former TDB employees, P. Jayakumar and Radhakrishnan Nair, had moved the court against the respondents. The works were not executed as mandated by the Public Works Department (PWD) manual and the tendering processes were suspect and loaded in favour of the contractors.
Deny charges
Mr. Gopalakrishnan and Mr. Tharayil, who had to step down after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) unexpectedly reduced the term of the board to two years through an Ordinance last month, have denied the corruption charges. They said the government was trying to smear them by making false accusations.
The complainants said they saw corruption in the free meal scheme for Sabarimala pilgrims. They requested that the VACB also examine TDB’s computerisation programme.
Misused vehicles
The petitioners also accused the respondents of personal-level corruption. They said the duo had unabashedly misused their official vehicles and mobile phones for private purposes and rented expensive houses at the expense of the public exchequer. They alleged that the two had employed many chauffeurs at the same time and deployed TDB staff to man their houses and private offices.
The respondents also alleged corruption in the transfer and appointment of TDB staff, including those serving on temporary and daily wages basis.
Probe already on
A VACB official said the agency had already initiated an inquiry into the allegations at the behest of the government. It was studying TDB’s internal vigilance reports and other documents to find out whether the contentions of the complainants revealed a cognizable offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1986.
