Did senior bureaucrat Y. Srilakshmi, now accused in the Obulapuram Mining Corporation case and the grant of iron ore mining leases, approach the AP Indian Administrative Service Officers Association for help?
Yes, if one were to go by the versions of association members who enjoy a cleaner record than most of their colleagues. Ever since her name started doing the rounds in the OMC case, she was said to have asked for help.
On the sidelines of an extraordinary general body meeting of the Association, a senior officer said “we clearly told her that she had to fight her own battle and how we could only provide her logistic support, like fixing an appointment with the Chief Minister and things like that,” said another officer.
Code of conduct
Differing voices were heard at the meeting. Some members said that as officials, they had a code of conduct and business rules to guide, the ‘political masters' appeared to have no code and no rules.
But what was prominent was how they wanted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to understand that those in the political decision-making process and implementation of an order by officials were one and the same.
0“All are equal before the law. What we regret is the obvious discrimination, the way in which the CBI is targeting us with each passing day. As officers, it is clear that the investigators are only obeying their political masters,” a senior member of the association fumed.
Questioned
Among others who drew attention was L.V. Subrahmanyam, whose name figured in the charge-sheet filed by the CBI, a day before he performed his son's marriage at Tirumala. Former Chief Secretary Ramakanth Reddy and a senior officer K. Ratnaprabha, both of whom were questioned by the CBI could not be spotted.