Social groups believe that Mr. Uma Shankar, a well known IAS officer known to proactively follow through on corruption, is being targetted unfairly by political forces in Tamil Nadu. A campaign is on to support him.

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We are outraged by the unjust action of the Tamil Nadu Government of suspending the honest and efficient IAS officer, Mr. C. Umashankar and of initiating several false inquiries and smear campaign against him because he stood up against the corruption in the Government. This abuse of power by the government is deplorable and unacceptable.

Umashankar is well known in all circles for his upright approach. He, as an Additional Collector of Madurai, had exposed a scam during the AIADMK regime in the construction of cremation sheds and after the DMK government assumed office in 1996, he was appointed as Joint Vigilance Commissioner and worked on several key positions in the Government. In later years, he has sought to introduce transparency in governance and oversaw development of software programmes and technological tools for detecting bogus cards and introducing e-governance in different areas of administration. The Week, a popular weekly magazine in India, chose Umashankar IAS as the man of the next millennium from among the Civil Servants in India in the year 2000

Following a family fued between Karunanidhis and Maran brothers after the burning of Dinakaran News Paper office at Madurai, TN Government sought to break the monopoly of the private cable TV operator, Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV) of the Kalanidhi Maran-owned ‘Sun Network’, set up Arasu Cable TV Corporation (Government cable TV) in 2008 and appointed Umashankar as the MD of the corporation. Sumangali Cable TV was indulging in large scale destruction of Optic fibre cable infrastructure of Arasu Cable TV Corporation as it was determined to ensure that their monopoly was maintained by all means with direct support of Pongalur Palanichamy, a Minister in the State Cabinet. Umashankar, dedicated to his job, recommended nationalization of the Sumangali Cable Vision and criminal action against those sabotaging Government property and creating loss to the taxpayers.

Most importantly, Umashankar, as Managing Director, tried to unearth a massive 700 crore rupees scam in TN government owned Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd [ELCOT]. One Public-private [ELCOT and ELNET] joint venture company ETL Infrastructure Limited which built IT- Park cum SEZ at Pallikaranai, Chennai with total value of the assets more than Rs.700 crores mysteriously disappeared from the control of ELNET and ELCOT obviously with the connivance of former Chairman of ELCOT and political heavy weights. In his letter to Chief secretary of Tamil Nadu[2 & 4], he sought CBI enquiry in this scam, which threatened the powerful politicians in the government.

As a vengeful response to Umashankar’s crusade against corruption, first, a vigilance probe was instituted against him for alleged possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Umashankar got an interim stay from Madras high court by filing affidavit explaining the motivation of the Government. Infuriated by this, Government suspended him by alleging that he produced a ‘false community certificate’ to claim Dalit or SC status while getting appointed by the UPSC in 1990. This is untrue as Umashankar is a Dalit and he has official records to prove the same. Government’s intention to harass Umashankar is very clear as he was suspended immediately even before he got a chance to explain his position. It is claimed that these disciplinary proceedings were initiated against him to deny him promotion as Joint Secretary to Union Government after he submitted the proposal to nationalize Sumangali Cable Vision.

In light of all these, we, the undersigned, demand that:

1. Revoke the unlawful suspension order of Umashankar immediately and produce any credible information and material against him, if any, to appropriate authority in Govt of India instead of smear campaign and false propaganda.

2. Immediate order for CBI inquiry into the mysterious disappearance of ETL Infrastructure Limited worth more than Rs.700 crore rupees of taxpayers money and also against the people directly involved in this scam including the DMK Union minister and the senior TN Government officials.

3. Initiate criminal action against the culprits involved in sabotaging Arasu cable TV corporation properties and incurring huge losses to TN government coffers.

4. Protect all whistle-blower and honest officials in the government from the vested interests and corrupt power centers in the government.

We sincerely hope that the Indian Government will notice and take strong action against erring the politicians and Government officials in TN and protect Umashankar and let him resume his duties at the earliest.