Date:21/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/21/stories/2008122155910100.htm

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Fisheries scam: YSR orders judicial probe

Special Correspondent

— Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

Something fishy: Telugu Desam activists try to barge into the Secretariat protesting the Fisheries scam in Hyderabad on Saturday.

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy launched a damage control exercise on Saturday to limit the political fallout of a major scam centring on Fisheries Department official V. Suryanarayana, now in judicial custody, by ordering a judicial inquiry into all the transactions.

Immediately after returning from Anantapur in the evening, Dr. Reddy took this decision after holding a brainstorming session with officials on measures to tide over the crisis caused by the allegations of involvement of six Ministers -- C. Damodar Rajanarsimha, Mandali Buddha Prasad, Mohd. Shabbir Ali, M. Hanumantha Rao, Botcha Satyanarayana and Mukesh Goud --- and several officials that could dent the government’s image.

A retired judge is likely to be appointed to head the commission of inquiry whose terms will encompass the role of these Ministers as well as senior officials who recommended Suryanarayana’s case for execution of civil works of various departments worth over Rs. 100 crore.

Knowledgeable sources said that the Chief Minister may axe at least two Ministers as he is upset by reports in the media that they had a hand in awarding contracts to Suryanarayana, an Executive Engineer, despite his written instructions not to do so. “Dr. Reddy is unhappy over the failure of the Minister to keep a check on officials in their ‘peshis’ who took an active part in ensuring that Suryanarayana secured the contracts,” a senior CMO official said.

It was initially proposed to order an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation or by a committee of senior officials to expedite the case. However, Dr. Reddy favoured a judicial probe to blunt the criticism of opposition parties that the government had “washed its hands of the controversy”. Dr. Reddy summoned the senior officials of the Anti-Corruption Bureau to review the cases pending against Suryanarayana on Sunday. “The government thought of summarily dismissing him from service. But he obtained a stay from the Supreme Court immediately after he was stripped of his powers,” the official said.