The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Vice-CMD suspends general manager

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Monday, Jan 03, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Vice-CMD suspends general manager

By J.S. Ifthekhar

HYDERABAD, JAN. 2. New year appears to have started off on a bad note for the Andhra Pradesh State Minorities Finance Corporation. On the very first day 24 of the 28 employees stayed away from work protesting against the alleged harassment by the vice-chairman and managing director, M.A. Azeem. Work came to a grinding halt on Saturday with just four employees turning up. The last day of the year too saw seven staffers not reporting to duty.

In a swift move, Mr. Azeem has suspended the corporation general manager, Mohd. Liyakath Ali pending enquiry, holding him responsible for instigating the workers. The suspension order was served on him on Sunday. Explanation has been sought from two other employees -- Amjad Pasha, superintendent, and G. Sahadeva Rao, executive director -- for "searching records" after office hours when they had sought permission to leave the headquarters.

Mass leave?

While the employees dubbed it as "mass leave" to express their resentment against the functioning of the managing director, the latter maintained that their conduct attracted disciplinary action as they had applied leave without prior permission. Moreover, they had cited personal reasons for the leave and it could not be construed as mass leave, it is said.

Mr. Azeem is believed to have ordered sealing of all almirahs, cupboards and cabins in the corporation head office in Haj House fearing tampering and misplacing of the records.

In safe custody

The open files in the cubicles have been taken into safe custody after making an inventory of the same. The seals will be reopened and records handed over in the presence of Mr. Azeem on Monday, it is said.

According to informed sources, Mr. Azeem took this extreme step as three employees were found suspiciously "searching" for certain records in the general manager's cabin after office hours on Saturday when they had sought permission to leave the headquarters in their leave letters.

Probing irregularities

Relations between the staff and the managing director are stated to have soured when the latter decided to probe certain "financial irregularities" committed by the former chairman, Momin Ahmed Hussain. However, Mr. Azeem's efforts to examine the records were met with resistance, as the files he wanted were not circulated to him. Meanwhile, an impression is sought to be created by the employees that the managing director was harassing them, it is said.

As the stand off continues, it remains to be seen whether the employees will boycott work or report to duty on Monday.

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