The parochialism of Tamil Nadu Government towards senior civil service officers from North India came out in the open recently when authorities in a Chennai police station refused to accept the complaint submitted by Jagmohan Singh Raju, the Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Punjab-born Jagmohan Singh Raju had gone to the Virugambakkam Police Station in the city on Sunday afternoon to file a complaint alleging commission of cognisable offences which are punishable under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities Act) 1989/2018 and the Indian Penal Code.
But the police refused to accept the complaint from Raju, who has been posted as the Commissioner of Land Reforms. But the police refused to register a FIR though the additional chief secretary waited in the station for almost four hours.
Raju has been working in the rank of chief secretary since January 2016 and is due for promotion as the full secretary of the Government of India. This would be the prelude to his elevation as the cabinet secretary of the country as he has four more years for superannuation . The whisper in Tamil Nadu secretariat is that certain forces are out in the open to derail his professional life.
The Pioneer had reported earlier the humiliation meted out to Jagmohan Singh Raju by the Chief Vigilance Commissioner of the country by initiating disciplinary proceedings against the former in a case which was thoroughly probed and found to be fake, false and counterfeit by the vigilance department of the union ministry. This internationally honored IAS officer had approached the department of Personnel and Training , Government of India, with a plea to remove the CVC from the post.
This forced Raju to approach the National Commission of Scheduled Caste which expressed its shock and displeasure over the state of affairs. The move to reopen the fake complaint against Raju is being seen as an attempt to sabotage the prospects of his promotion in the civil service. It was as per the directive of the National Commission for Scheduled Caste, an authority constituted under the provisions of the Indian Constitution, Jagmohan Singh Raju (who hails from the Scheduled Caste community) approached the police station for filing the complaint.
Following the refusal of the police officials to register his complaint,Raju intimated the NCSC about the predicament faced by him. The Commission which went into the details has asked the Chennai City Police Commissioner seeking a fill report about the incident within 48 hours.
“Report should have details of the action taken under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989 amended in 2015 and the Rules 1995 amended in 2016 thereof. Please take notice that in case the Commission does not receive reply from you within the stipulated time, the Commission may exercise the powers of Civil Courts conferred on it under Art338 of the Constitution of India and issuer summons for your appearance in person or by a representative before the Commission,” said the NCSC in its communication to the City Police Commissioner.
Report about Jagmohan Singh Raju’s sufferings comes at a time when other non-Tamil officers in the State administration find their names dragged into charges of corruption and impropriety by a cabal of bureaucrats . Recently, the chairman of the Tamil Nadu Uniform Services Recruitment Board , J K Tripathy, was dragged into a case of bogus expert opinion which was the handiwork of officials from the State cadre. The controversy erupted even as the selection process for the post of director general of police was on and Tripathy is one of the contenders.