Surprise Income-Tax raids rattle officials, ministers

While the raids at the top bureaucrat’s office in the Secretariat premises was the most-talked about topic in the officials of all cadres, shocked officers remained tight-lipped about the whole incident. A senior IAS officer, on condition of anonymity, said, “It brings a bad name to the state bureaucracy, while keeping the officials at the top on tenterhooks.”

Former civil servant M G Devasahayam, when asked whether there was any specific protocol to be followed when raiding the premises of a top civil servant, said, “There is no specific protocol as such, but when I-T officials have enough incriminating evidence to warrant a raid, they can do so. But what is mystifying is why they chose to use central police instead of the local police as is the usual practice. This shows that they do not trust the local police.” “What is also surprising is the raids conducted at Rama Mohana Rao’s office at the Secretariat,” Devasahayam said. 

“I-T officials should inform the Chief Secretary when they raid the premises of other IAS officials. But when they raid the chief secretary’s premises, they have to inform the state governor and the Chief Minister which they would have done in the nick of time.”  

The raid set off alarms resulting in Electricity Minister P Thangamani, who came to the Anna salai TNEB office, headed for Fort St George accompanied by TANGEDCO chairman Dr M Saikumar. Similarly, other ministers who came to the Secretariat for a review meeting to be chaired by CM O Paneerselvam were taken aback at the sudden turn of events.