Suspended IAS officer moves CAT again

Cuttack, Feb 7 (PTI) In less than seven months,beleaguered promotee IAS officer Srikant Prusty has approachedthe Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) twice seeking toquash the suspension order slapped on him by the stategovernment for his alleged role in linkage coal scam.

Prusty, who became an IAS officer in 2003 andcurrently working as the director of higher education, todaymoved the CAT seeking to quash the suspension order served onhim late on Saturday evening. He had also made a similar pleain the Tribunal after he was served a suspension order on July15, 2010.

While granting an interim stay on operation of firstsuspension order, the CAT on August 13 had disposed off thematter asking Prusty to appeal the competent appellateauthority since he had not exhausted all the remediesavailable to him under All India Services (Discipline andAppeal) Rules of 1969.

The Tribunal had also ordered that the stay onoperation of July 15, 2010 suspension order shall continuetill the appeal is filed.

The Tribunal order was also confirmed by Orissa HighCourt on September 14, 2010 as Prusty had also approachedthe HC in a writ appeal.

However, on Saturday, the state government has againput Prusty under suspension stating that the appeal period forthe suspended officer has expired on August 31, 2010 as Rulesof 1969 stipulates an appeal period of 45 days.

Prusty, a former general manager of Cuttack DIC wasbooked by the vigilance directorate in a criminal case for hisalleged involvement in getting the pecuniary benefits from thecoal scam which had been rocking the state for last eightmonths.