In a letter to the Tribunal president, a copy of which is in the possession of The Indian Express, Abdul Razack has charged that his transfer was made because he and Accountant Member of the Tribunal P K Bansal refused to obey and carry out directions `faithfully and obediently' in allowing the appeal of V Bhaskaran (IT SS A.No.238/MDS/97), nephew of Sasikala Natarajan, a close friend of AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalitha. Thambidurai is an AIADMK leader.

Abdul Razack has charged in the letter that on account of dismissal of Bhaskaran's appeal, the Law Minister and the Tribunal president ``are angry with me and therefore in order to seek vengeance and to harass and punish me,'' he was transferred to Guwahati. ``My transfer is therefore to please the Law Minister.''

Submitting that his transferorder be cancelled, Abdul Razack has alleged ``You are angry with me because I have on Aug 19, 1998, at Chennai in the presence of Law Minister M Thambidurai at the Tamil Nadu Guest House, refused to obey and carry out your orders and directions faithfully and obediently to hear with new Accountant Member, Bhardwaj Shankar, and allow in full the appeals of A N Dhyaneswaran, former Chairman of Tamil Nadu Minerals Limited (TAMIN), T T V Dinakaran (nephew of Sasikala), and M Ramachandran, former Industry Secretary (of Tamil Nadu) during the regime of Jayalalitha.''

``You are angry because I did not obey and carry out your orders and directions obediently and faithfully to grant full, absolute and unconditional stay of disputed demands,'' Abdul Razack has charged. The Judicial Member of the Tribunal pointed out that his transfer was not effected in a `routine manner' on administrative grounds or exigencies, ``but purely on malafide grounds''.

Abdul Razack has charged in his letter that the Law Ministersummoned the Tribunal president at 4 pm on Sept 3, 1998, in the Guest House of Shipping Corporation of India and ordered that he be punished and taught a lesson for not carrying out the orders. The member questioned the independence of the judiciary. ``If such things happen at the hands of judges, I think the independence of judiciary will be the last and dead word in the administration of justice. My transfer is affecting my independence as a judge to administer and deliver justice,'' he said.