The Andhra Pradesh high court on Tuesday struck down the case filed against senior IRS officer Jasti Krishna Kishore, who was suspended by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government soon after it took over in 2019.
The Jagan government in December suspended Krishna Kishore, on the charges of corruption and misappropriation of funds during his tenure as the chief executive officer of the AP Economic Development Board (APEDB) in the previous TDP government.
The government took the action against the 1990-batch IRS officer based on a preliminary report from the infrastructure department and later entrusted the case to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
The high court, which had been hearing the case for the last two and a half years, concluded that the charges framed against Krishna Kishore could not be proved and that he had not committed any irregularities when he was in the EDB.
“It was an illegal case, aimed at harassing the officer,” the high court said.
Krishna Kishore had earlier moved the Central Administrative Tribunal, which granted a stay on the suspension. Later, it dismissed the case against him. However, the AP government later moved the high court challenging the tribunal order.
The high court, while quashing the sections under which cases were filed against Krishna Kishore, said there was no evidence to show that he had taken any personal decisions and had benefitted out of such decisions.
The high court also felt that the cases were filed deliberately on the assumption that Krishna Kishore had close relations with former joint director of Central Bureau of Investigation V V Lakshminarayana.
Krishna Kishore, who had been brought on deputation to AP by the Naidu government, was originally working in the Central Board of Direct Taxes in the capacity of additional commissioner in the income tax department in Hyderabad before 2014.
He was among the officers who assessed the incomes of YS Jagan’s Jagati Publications and levied hefty Rs 122.78 crore tax in 2010. The IT department probed into the sale of Jagati Publications’ shares at premium rates.
Soon after Jagan came to power, he relieved Krishna Kishore from the APEDB post and kept him in waiting without any position and any salary. Later in December 2019, the government suspended him on charges of irregularities.
He was appointed CEO of the APEDB in September 2015 as it played key role in projecting Naidu’s investment tours to foreign countries and his investment meets in Visakhapatnam and other areas.
Besides promoting Naidu’s massive investment mobilisation claims, Jasti had favoured 15 out of 20 advisors from his own Kamma community. These consultants were paid heavily to promote Chandrababu Naidu’s investment plans and foreign tours.
Funds misappropriation by the APEDB is one of the reasons for the government to place him under suspension and order enquiry.
