In a big relief to senior Indian Revenue Services Officer Jasti Krishna Kishore, the blue-eyed boy of Telugu Desam Party president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the Central Administrative Tribunal has cancelled his suspension by the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh.
The tribunal issued orders to this effect on Tuesday. The tribunal also ordered that Krishna Kishore be allowed to go back to the Central services.
However, it said the cases of corruption and irregularities filed by the Jagan government against the IRS officer would stay and the government could go ahead with the cases as per the law.
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).
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.
He had requested the Jagan government to relieve him as he is expecting promotion as principal commissioner.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had also requested the state government to relieve him. The government did not respond and suddenly, filed a series of cases against him.