SURAJ NANDREKAR
suraj@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Taking strong cognisance of the Herald expose of the server fixing scam, the Election Commission as well as the Chief Secretary have launched separate probes into the matter.
On Friday, Herald exposed how the National Informatics Center (NIC) server was tampered to backdate the master date to enable system generated back-dated appointment letters to beat the election code of conduct
In this connection an NIC engineer (system analyst) K Ramnathan has been sent on forced leave, pending an internal probe.
Speaking to Herald, Joint Chief Electoral Officer Narayan Navti said “We have asked the NIC to give us a factual report on the matter.”
The joint CEO said that prima facie the matter looks very serious in nature.
“Tampering with the NIC server is a serious offence and amounts to interfering with government documents,” he said adding “This is a criminal offence and anyone found guilty will face criminal proceedings.”
Navti also said that heads of departments may also face criminal proceedings.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Sanjay Srivastava also launched an inquiry in the “server tampering” issue.
“I have asked the NIC as well as the IT secretary to submit a detailed report on the issue,” Srivastava said.
He said that he has received a preliminary report from the NIC, which claims that there is no change in any dates to benefit any department or politicians.
“NIC says the server was changed as the previous one had a technical snag. But I have asked for a detailed report and the IT secretary will inquire into the case,” he said.
However, Herald sources refuse to buy the contention of the Chief Secretary saying there was no problem with the NIC server.
“…even if we consider there was a snag with the server why was it was changed soon after the code of conduct was in force on December 23?’ they asked.
Trying to cover up the incident a top NIC official, who did not want to be named, gave some other version of the story.
“We run about 40 applications at a time which sometimes slows down the system,” he said adding “…so we change the dates of some applications to improve functioning of the server.”
Operation cover-up
* NIC preliminary report to CS says there is no change in any dates to benefit any departments or politicians
* Interim report says the server was changed as the previous one had a technical snag.
* Another top official says NIC runs about 40 applications at a time which sometimes slows down the system and the engineers change the dates of some applications to improve functioning of the server
