UPFC case: Prasad on sticky wicket

SENIOR IAS officer Sunanda Prasad could find herself in a tight spot after decks were cleared to lodge a case against a lawyer under the Officials Secrets Act.

The lawyer had filed a PIL in the high court challenging the appointment UP Finance Corporation chairman, Dr Shiv Prasad Yadav, whose battle with then MD Prasad had made headlines for weeks on a trot.

The move to nail the lawyer comes after an inquiry by the city crime branch corroborated that he had illegally accessed classified documents, which were forwarded to the government by Prasad regarding Yadav’s appointment.

Moreover, the documents were enclosed in the PIL with certain newspaper clippings. His offence has been judged as violation of Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act.

The inquiry had been ordered by the State Government on Dr Yadav’s complaint.
The UP Finance Corporation chairman had felt that the PIL was a ploy to remove him and Prasad had helped the lawyer access classified papers.

“A case is being registered with the Kotwali police on crime branch’s findings. The lawyer can even be arrested for he hasn’t revealed how he accessed the documents or who helped him,” well-placed sources told HT.

The PIL was filed in September 2004 to challenge the government’s policy to appoint chairpersons at various corporations. But the petition largely revolved around Dr Yadav’s appointment and the problems it created in the functioning of the Finance Corporation.

The petitioner’s view was that since the corporation dealt in finances, the chairman must be an economist while Dr Yadav was a chemistry lecturer.

The contention was well supported by the correspondence of Prasad with the government. Prasad shared the same view and had dispatched a number of letters to the government seeking a review of the appointment. “The letters were highly confidential and when they became part of the writ it raised many an eyebrows,” said a source involved with the investigations.

Dr Yadav was quick to react and took up the issue at the highest level in the government. He demanded an inquiry into the information leakage for he believed that it was part of a well-designed conspiracy.

After the inquiry formally began, the petitioner’s response came as a surprise to the investigators.

Rathore, in fact, had registered himself with the Bar Council in 2004 and was least aware about the contents of the petition.

He told investigators that the entire paperwork was completed by his senior, who had asked him to meet a lawyer in Allahabad.

In Allahabad, Rathore signed a ‘vakalatnama’ and some other documents before he returned.

His superior, however, evaded investigators and didn’t answer questions he was put through. The investigators, on their part, concluded that the documents were highly classified in nature and the lawyer’s access to them indeed was a breach of the Official Secrets Act.

Sources in the crime branch said it was planning to question some employees of the Uttar Pradesh Finance Corporation soon.