Mysuru: Alleging that the previous Palace Board Deputy Director P.V. Avaradi was mentally harassing the current Palace Board Deputy Director T.S. Subramanya, city Advocate R. Ramesh has written to the Mysuru Regional Commissioner to provide adequate security to T.S. Subramanya, so that he can discharge his duty without any hurdle.

In his letter, Ramesh alleged that, Avaradi has been harassing Subramanya by filing false complaints with the Government and Lokayukta, through some others, in order to get Rs.3.5 crore illegally from New Delhi based M/s Narrowcasters Company, that has provided Audio Guide service to Mysore Palace.

Noting that as the case comes under the Kannada and Culture department, the Regional Commissioner handed over the case to the Principal Secretary of Kannada and Culture department, along with his (Ramesh) letter, documents and the investigation report regarding the Audio Guide service. Following the report, T.S. Subramanya has got a clean chit by the Lokayukta and the Government, advocate Ramesh said.

Claiming that the complaint accusing T.S. Subramanya of causing losses to the Palace Board to the tune of crores of rupees by embezzlement of Palace entry ticket fee and Vehicle parking fee by using bogus ticketing machines, is baseless, Ramesh maintained that, the Palace Board revenue has only increased after Subramanya took over as its Deputy Director.

“Prior to Subramanya taking over the charge, the Palace Board account had a Bank deposit of just Rs.19 crore. Now, 10 years later, the Bank deposit stands at over Rs. 120 crore, which is testimony to Subramanya’s  transparent style of functioning”, he said while rubbishing the charges that Subramanya had tampered the  entry fee ticketing machine  server for embezzlement of money.

Continuing, Ramesh said that the tickets with a bar code are issued only through hand-held machines purchased by the Palace Board and as such there are no ways for irregularities or embezzlement. The fee collected everyday will be entered in the register and credited to the Palace Board account and the GST is also paid as per rules.

Pointing out that the State Chief Secretary heads the Palace Board and the Mysuru Deputy Commissioner functions as the Executive Officer and Member-Secretary of the Board, Ramesh said that Subramanya has been functioning as per rules and regulations after getting approval for the files from the higher ups. Asserting that Subramanya cannot function as per his own will, he alleged that despite this, he is being harassed by levelling false charges against him. Dismissing all the charges against Subramanya as baseless, Ramesh urged the authorities to register a case and order a probe against the previous Palace Board Deputy Director Avaradi, who is also a partner of Narrowcasters company, for unearthing the truth.

Meanwhile, Palace Board Deputy Director T.S. Subramanya said “Following a Government directive, the Regional Commissioner conducted a probe into the audio guide service provided by New Delhi based Narrowcasters Company to the Mysore Palace. The probe report said that the tender process blatantly violated norms and as such a higher level of probe was needed. This apart, the matter is now in the Court and as such, money cannot be paid to the Company. I have to act as per the  Court order and the Palace Board decisions regarding the matter. Despite knowing this, Avaradi has been mentally harassing me, which is known to everyone. The Lokayukta report has absolved me of all the charges made against me”.