FINALLY resolved!!
One of the test I did was to run as 'root' vs. the user. Suddenly both versions worked as root! Tracing the issue, looks like the permissions in the /tmp directory were not standard. Once that was resolved, everything started working. Just for completeness sake, I am including the run both with and without -C below (while the failure was still occurring).
This still does not explain why the one with '-C' worked while the other did not. It shows 'Unpacking' for both, so I am assuming that it was successfully able to write the directory but it never dumps 'PAR_TEMP' before it crashes so can't tell where it was unpacking. Am assuming it was in "." like the one without '-C' (-noC).
** ichk3-C **
Invalid argument at -e line 119.
Can't locate File/Temp.pm in @INC (@INC contains: /home/shared/perl5/R
+EL5/perlbrew/perls/perl-5.16.3/lib/site_perl/5.16.3/x86_64-linux /hom
+e/shared/perl5/REL5/perlbrew/perls/perl-5.16.3/lib/site_perl/5.16.3 /
+home/shared/perl5/REL5/perlbrew/perls/perl-5.16.3/lib/5.16.3/x86_64-l
+inux /home/shared/perl5/REL5/perlbrew/perls/perl-5.16.3/lib/5.16.3 .)
+ at -e line 6.
END failed--call queue aborted at -e line 616.
Unpacking file "d1f75e37/AutoLoader.pm"...
Unpacking file "f3159140/Carp.pm"...
Unpacking file "dd8154fc/Carp/Heavy.pm"...
Unpacking file "4cd21343/Compress/Zlib.pm"...
Unpacking file "0c14115b/Exporter.pm"...
Unpacking file "39a22774/Exporter/Heavy.pm"...
Unpacking file "6f9d3d38/File/Basename.pm"...
Unpacking file "5f6f1653/File/Copy.pm"...
Unpacking file "f9c7c3ed/File/Find.pm"...
Unpacking file "dfd980a3/File/GlobMapper.pm"...
Unpacking file "d181e56d/File/Path.pm"...
Unpacking file "8122dc77/File/Temp.pm"...
Unpacking file "7b53cc3c/FileHandle.pm"...
Unpacking file "10ae6d25/IO/Compress/Adapter/Deflate.pm"...
Unpacking file "0d138c04/IO/Compress/Base.pm"...
Unpacking file "baba604a/IO/Compress/Base/Common.pm"...
Unpacking file "777f312b/IO/Compress/Gzip.pm"...
Unpacking file "8c193a8c/IO/Compress/Gzip/Constants.pm"...
Unpacking file "641988e4/IO/Compress/RawDeflate.pm"...
Unpacking file "30c33cc2/IO/Compress/Zlib/Extra.pm"...
Unpacking file "412b4539/IO/Uncompress/Adapter/Inflate.pm"...
Unpacking file "cdf9627e/IO/Uncompress/Base.pm"...
Unpacking file "fad7adfc/IO/Uncompress/Gunzip.pm"...
Unpacking file "84d2c74b/IO/Uncompress/RawInflate.pm"...
Unpacking file "6cfbfc9e/PerlIO.pm"...
Unpacking file "a1dce254/SelectSaver.pm"...
Unpacking file "dcb959df/Symbol.pm"...
Unpacking file "85712432/Time/Local.pm"...
Unpacking file "d7d1f5ed/XSLoader.pm"...
Unpacking file "7d64b00e/base.pm"...
Unpacking file "72d48af8/bytes.pm"...
Unpacking file "9e68de87/constant.pm"...
Unpacking file "6d108fc9/feature.pm"...
Unpacking file "7c91d1e1/integer.pm"...
Unpacking file "a7b6167f/overload.pm"...
Unpacking file "a179f7c7/overloading.pm"...
Unpacking file "0ff4b9be/strict.pm"...
Unpacking file "78bfcd2a/unicore/Heavy.pl"...
Unpacking file "25b477ad/unicore/lib/Perl/_PerlIDS.pl"...
Unpacking file "a4b4b611/utf8.pm"...
Unpacking file "9e991ca2/utf8_heavy.pl"...
Unpacking file "97661066/vars.pm"...
Unpacking file "bba5d3ea/warnings.pm"...
Unpacking file "55eafc9f/warnings/register.pm"...
Unpacking file "8e65f187/Compress/Raw/Zlib.pm"...
Unpacking file "f5912be9/Config.pm"...
Unpacking file "c33fbebe/Config_git.pl"...
Unpacking file "2d31aca6/Config_heavy.pl"...
Unpacking file "54a799da/Cwd.pm"...
Unpacking file "304307c9/Data/Dumper.pm"...
Unpacking file "cd4f2f8d/DynaLoader.pm"...
Unpacking file "b9770cb8/Encode.pm"...
Unpacking file "abaf900c/Encode/Alias.pm"...
Unpacking file "0c452deb/Encode/Config.pm"...
Unpacking file "b23d8a34/Encode/Encoding.pm"...
Unpacking file "0e514bae/Errno.pm"...
Unpacking file "cc990f68/Fcntl.pm"...
Unpacking file "35fbef27/File/Glob.pm"...
Unpacking file "ed9b7155/PAR/Filter/PodStrip.pm"...
Unpacking file "551a14ac/PAR/Heavy.pm"...
Unpacking file "01849426/PAR/SetupProgname.pm"...
Unpacking file "49319b85/PAR/SetupTemp.pm"...
Unpacking file "981ebfb5/File/Spec.pm"...
Unpacking file "67e42f9d/File/Spec/Unix.pm"...
Unpacking file "14b12750/IO.pm"...
Unpacking file "c5cfbd2f/IO/File.pm"...
Unpacking file "f9205b7c/IO/Handle.pm"...
Unpacking file "447979be/IO/Seekable.pm"...
Unpacking file "2b54d479/List/Util.pm"...
Unpacking file "02ce14c8/PerlIO/scalar.pm"...
Unpacking file "1f8de7e5/Scalar/Util.pm"...
Unpacking file "52d61ba6/Tie/Hash/NamedCapture.pm"...
Unpacking file "b206be00/attributes.pm"...
Unpacking file "d16d983c/auto/Compress/Raw/Zlib/autosplit.ix"...
Unpacking file "1e835971/lib.pm"...
Unpacking file "7567cd36/Archive/Zip.pm"...
Unpacking file "2c68c434/Archive/Zip/Archive.pm"...
Unpacking file "71c2f6d9/Archive/Zip/DirectoryMember.pm"...
Unpacking file "a79ecbb5/Archive/Zip/FileMember.pm"...
Unpacking file "25d0c037/Archive/Zip/Member.pm"...
Unpacking file "ef514739/Archive/Zip/NewFileMember.pm"...
Unpacking file "80342dd6/Archive/Zip/StringMember.pm"...
Unpacking file "782490b9/Archive/Zip/ZipFileMember.pm"...
Unpacking file "876a194b/PAR.pm"...
Unpacking file "debf6ac5/PAR/Dist.pm"...
Unpacking file "c9ed446d/PAR/Filter.pm"...
Unpacking file "ba40d05a/PAR/Filter/PatchContent.pm"...
Unpacking file "12501619/auto/Cwd/Cwd.so"...
Unpacking file "4999da12/auto/List/Util/Util.so"...
Unpacking file "5d3b0946/auto/attributes/attributes.so"...
Unpacking file "615981bf/auto/Tie/Hash/NamedCapture/NamedCapture.so"..
+.
Unpacking file "657da9fd/auto/Encode/Encode.so"...
Unpacking file "6c3b27f1/auto/Fcntl/Fcntl.so"...
Unpacking file "7994778e/auto/Compress/Raw/Zlib/Zlib.so"...
Unpacking file "7a2753f3/auto/PerlIO/scalar/scalar.so"...
Unpacking file "b56f9e55/auto/IO/IO.so"...
Unpacking file "e58a6131/auto/Data/Dumper/Dumper.so"...
Unpacking file "ee3edacd/auto/File/Glob/Glob.so"...
** ichk3-noC **
Unpacking file "981ebfb5/File/Spec.pm"...
Unpacking file "67e42f9d/File/Spec/Unix.pm"...
Unpacking file "14b12750/IO.pm"...
Unpacking file "c5cfbd2f/IO/File.pm"...
Unpacking file "f9205b7c/IO/Handle.pm"...
Unpacking file "447979be/IO/Seekable.pm"...
Unpacking file "2b54d479/List/Util.pm"...
Unpacking file "02ce14c8/PerlIO/scalar.pm"...
Unpacking file "1f8de7e5/Scalar/Util.pm"...
Unpacking file "52d61ba6/Tie/Hash/NamedCapture.pm"...
Unpacking file "b206be00/attributes.pm"...
Unpacking file "d16d983c/auto/Compress/Raw/Zlib/autosplit.ix"...
Unpacking file "1e835971/lib.pm"...
Unpacking file "7567cd36/Archive/Zip.pm"...
Unpacking file "2c68c434/Archive/Zip/Archive.pm"...
Unpacking file "71c2f6d9/Archive/Zip/DirectoryMember.pm"...
Unpacking file "a79ecbb5/Archive/Zip/FileMember.pm"...
Unpacking file "25d0c037/Archive/Zip/Member.pm"...
Unpacking file "ef514739/Archive/Zip/NewFileMember.pm"...
Unpacking file "80342dd6/Archive/Zip/StringMember.pm"...
Unpacking file "782490b9/Archive/Zip/ZipFileMember.pm"...
Unpacking file "876a194b/PAR.pm"...
Unpacking file "debf6ac5/PAR/Dist.pm"...
Unpacking file "c9ed446d/PAR/Filter.pm"...
Unpacking file "ba40d05a/PAR/Filter/PatchContent.pm"...
Unpacking file "d1f75e37/AutoLoader.pm"...
Unpacking file "f3159140/Carp.pm"...
Unpacking file "dd8154fc/Carp/Heavy.pm"...
Unpacking file "4cd21343/Compress/Zlib.pm"...
Unpacking file "0c14115b/Exporter.pm"...
Unpacking file "39a22774/Exporter/Heavy.pm"...
Unpacking file "6f9d3d38/File/Basename.pm"...
Unpacking file "5f6f1653/File/Copy.pm"...
Unpacking file "f9c7c3ed/File/Find.pm"...
Unpacking file "dfd980a3/File/GlobMapper.pm"...
Unpacking file "d181e56d/File/Path.pm"...
Unpacking file "8122dc77/File/Temp.pm"...
Unpacking file "7b53cc3c/FileHandle.pm"...
Unpacking file "10ae6d25/IO/Compress/Adapter/Deflate.pm"...
Unpacking file "0d138c04/IO/Compress/Base.pm"...
Unpacking file "baba604a/IO/Compress/Base/Common.pm"...
Unpacking file "777f312b/IO/Compress/Gzip.pm"...
Unpacking file "8c193a8c/IO/Compress/Gzip/Constants.pm"...
Unpacking file "641988e4/IO/Compress/RawDeflate.pm"...
Unpacking file "30c33cc2/IO/Compress/Zlib/Extra.pm"...
Unpacking file "412b4539/IO/Uncompress/Adapter/Inflate.pm"...
Unpacking file "cdf9627e/IO/Uncompress/Base.pm"...
Unpacking file "fad7adfc/IO/Uncompress/Gunzip.pm"...
Unpacking file "84d2c74b/IO/Uncompress/RawInflate.pm"...
Unpacking file "6cfbfc9e/PerlIO.pm"...
Unpacking file "a1dce254/SelectSaver.pm"...
Unpacking file "dcb959df/Symbol.pm"...
Unpacking file "85712432/Time/Local.pm"...
Unpacking file "d7d1f5ed/XSLoader.pm"...
Unpacking file "7d64b00e/base.pm"...
Unpacking file "72d48af8/bytes.pm"...
Unpacking file "9e68de87/constant.pm"...
Unpacking file "6d108fc9/feature.pm"...
Unpacking file "7c91d1e1/integer.pm"...
Unpacking file "a7b6167f/overload.pm"...
Unpacking file "a179f7c7/overloading.pm"...
Unpacking file "0ff4b9be/strict.pm"...
Unpacking file "78bfcd2a/unicore/Heavy.pl"...
Unpacking file "25b477ad/unicore/lib/Perl/_PerlIDS.pl"...
Unpacking file "a4b4b611/utf8.pm"...
Unpacking file "9e991ca2/utf8_heavy.pl"...
Unpacking file "97661066/vars.pm"...
Unpacking file "bba5d3ea/warnings.pm"...
Unpacking file "55eafc9f/warnings/register.pm"...
Unpacking file "8e65f187/Compress/Raw/Zlib.pm"...
Unpacking file "f5912be9/Config.pm"...
Unpacking file "c33fbebe/Config_git.pl"...
Unpacking file "2d31aca6/Config_heavy.pl"...
Unpacking file "54a799da/Cwd.pm"...
Unpacking file "304307c9/Data/Dumper.pm"...
Unpacking file "cd4f2f8d/DynaLoader.pm"...
Unpacking file "b9770cb8/Encode.pm"...
Unpacking file "abaf900c/Encode/Alias.pm"...
Unpacking file "0c452deb/Encode/Config.pm"...
Unpacking file "b23d8a34/Encode/Encoding.pm"...
Unpacking file "0e514bae/Errno.pm"...
Unpacking file "cc990f68/Fcntl.pm"...
Unpacking file "35fbef27/File/Glob.pm"...
Unpacking file "ed9b7155/PAR/Filter/PodStrip.pm"...
Unpacking file "551a14ac/PAR/Heavy.pm"...
Unpacking file "01849426/PAR/SetupProgname.pm"...
Unpacking file "49319b85/PAR/SetupTemp.pm"...
Unpacking file "12501619/auto/Cwd/Cwd.so"...
Unpacking file "4999da12/auto/List/Util/Util.so"...
Unpacking file "5d3b0946/auto/attributes/attributes.so"...
Unpacking file "615981bf/auto/Tie/Hash/NamedCapture/NamedCapture.so"..
+.
Unpacking file "657da9fd/auto/Encode/Encode.so"...
Unpacking file "6c3b27f1/auto/Fcntl/Fcntl.so"...
Unpacking file "7994778e/auto/Compress/Raw/Zlib/Zlib.so"...
Unpacking file "7a2753f3/auto/PerlIO/scalar/scalar.so"...
Unpacking file "b56f9e55/auto/IO/IO.so"...
Unpacking file "e58a6131/auto/Data/Dumper/Dumper.so"...
Unpacking file "ee3edacd/auto/File/Glob/Glob.so"...
$ENV{PAR_TEMP} = "./par-78697373/cache-5767fae328a37f21981cf3fdd0e969c
+bbe5042d2"
INC BEGIN: par-78697373/cache-5767fae328a37f21981cf3fdd0e969cbbe5042d2
+/inc/lib par-78697373/cache-5767fae328a37f21981cf3fdd0e969cbbe5042d2/
+inc CODE(0x11b5108) CODE(0x11b5210)
par-78697373/cache-5767fae328a37f21981cf3fdd0e969cbbe5042d2/inc/lib pa
+r-78697373/cache-5767fae328a37f21981cf3fdd0e969cbbe5042d2/inc CODE(0x
+11b5108) CODE(0x11b5210)
INC END: par-78697373/cache-5767fae328a37f21981cf3fdd0e969cbbe5042d2/i
+nc/lib par-78697373/cache-5767fae328a37f21981cf3fdd0e969cbbe5042d2/in
+c CODE(0x11b5108) CODE(0x11b5210)
