Kochi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has questioned the propriety of Kerala vigilance chief Jacob Thomas' act of shooting off a letter to CBI director and handing it over to media.
There is nothing wrong in probing the charges of flouting of norms against an officer. But the vigilance director's act of writing a letter to the CBI chief challenging the affidavit the agency submitted in the high court, and handing it over to media have no precedence, the CBI told the high court on Wednesday, Manorama News reported.
The premier investigative agency's counsel was referring to reports that Thomas wrote a letter to the CBI director to point out that the affidavit the central agency submitted before the Kerala High Court goes against established procedures.
Meanwhile, the government took a stance favoring Thomas in the court. The government informed the court that the CBI's act was susceptible as the charges against Thomas were probed and the matter was settled.
The government told the court that the CBI, which refuses to probe even crucial cases, was showing special interest in the charges against Jacob Thomas.
The government sought more time from the court as it wanted the advocate general to represent it in the case. The case has been posted to November 3.
The CBI had informed the High Court that the agency was ready to probe allegations against Thomas that he had violated service rules in 2009 when he was the director of the Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation. A private complaint by a Koothuparamba native alleged that Thomas went on three months leave and joined the T K M Institute of Management in Kollam as director.
Though the state government had told the High Court that the complaint was without merit, the CBI offered to probe the allegations.
Thomas says that the CBI’s affidavit had ignored the procedures to be followed when dealing with an officer in the rank of a Director General of Police. He asked the CBI Director whether he was aware of the affidavit presented before the court, terming the central agency’s move “unusual”.