Forum asks governor to intervene, seeks prosecution of corrupt officials

Forum asks governor to intervene, seeks prosecution of corrupt officials

U.Sudhakarreddy@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:09.06.2020

Is the Telangana government watering down corruption cases booked against officials? Are cases against top officials involved in corruption diluted, kept in cold storage and finally settled with a mere departmental enquiry?

To these queries, the Forum for Good Governance (FGG) says the answer is yes. FGG said a majority of the corruption cases in revenue, irrigation and municipal administration departments, where officials had amassed disproportionate assets beyond their means are ending up in a departmental action.

FGG representatives wrote to governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday, seeking her immediate intervention to prosecute the corrupt officials.

M Padmanabha Reddy of FGG said in cases of lesser-paid employees who cannot influence prosecution, permissions are given immediately. “Whereas, in cases where top babus are involved, files are kept in cold storage for several years and finally settled with a departmental enquiry or transfer to commissioner of inquiries or action is dropped.”

Citing an instance, he said ACB had conducted searches on M Sarat Babu, motor vehicle inspector, in 2009 over corruption charges. “For the last 11 years, the case has been pending. The government did not agree with ACB’s contention and directed it to defer the prosecution. It has directed ACB to furnish a draft article of the charges. But, no action has been taken till now,” he explained.

In another case with the tribal welfare department, assistant tribal welfare officer of Mahabubabad Ch Rama Murthy was found in possession of Rs 70 lakh disproportionate assets. “For the last six years, the report has been lying with the government,” Reddy said.

He also recalled that a vigilance and enforcement report into irregularities in the irrigation department in 2015 and a CID report into the case have been kept aside and no action has been taken against the tainted officials. Reddy said no action was taken against then-Shamirpet tehsildar EB Nagaraj though he was trapped in an illegal assets case.