Speaker sacks her ‘tainted’ secretary

The CBI raided the secretary to Speaker Meira Kumar for corruption, sending Parliament into a tizzy and prompting the Lok Sabha chair to remove him with immediate effect.

R A Pathak was raided by CBI for acquiring assets disproportionate to his income between 1995 and 2005, a period when he served in the road, transport, highways ministry. Belonging to the 1984 batch of central engineering service, Pathak joined as secretary to the Speaker on June 2, 2011.

Sources said Pathak was appointed after a detailed inquiry and background check in the highways ministry. Now, it transpires that while he was cleared by the ministry for fresh posting, he was under a secret probe by the premier investigating agency.

With raids on his residence here and Lucknow, the Speaker sacked him immediately and repatriated him to his parent ministry.

The CBI case, registered on August 31, pegs Pathak’s assets at Rs 1.2 crore. For the period under probe, his income was found to be Rs 40.52 lakh, while his disproportionate assets have been estimated at Rs 45 lakh.