Tirunelveli: The project officer of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Tirunelveli district was relieved from his post on Tuesday by the district election officer and collector, Dr M. Karunaharan, for model code of conduct violation.
Tirunelveli district collector, who is also the chairman of DRDA, Tirunelveli in his letter to the director of rural development agency and to the state chief secretary, the rural development secretary and the chief electoral officer of Tamil Nadu has stated that he has no other option but to relieve the DRDA, project officer, H. Vijayakumar from office to ensure the free and fair conduct of the election.
The reason is that the DRDA officer despite knowing well the model code of conduct has sent three files for administrative sanction for various road works.
The project officer also faced charges of sending these files antedated, March 4, 2006, with pencil marking. The files, however, were dispatched on March 6, after the announcement of the election dates.
Moreover as the DRDA officer, Vijayakumar, working continuously in the district for more than four years, the Tirunelveli district collector in his letter also expressed suspicion that Vijayakumar might have the possibility of directing his lower level officials to go against the model code and bring disgrace to the state administration.
