Hyderabad, Dec 29: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)
of Andhra Pradesh has prepared ground for prosecution of at
least 15 IAS, IPS and IFS on corruption charges but the state
government is yet to accord permission for proceeding against
them, sources in the agency said.
The ACB has submitted a dossier listing the names of
these officers and the charges against them, mostly relating
to amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of
income, to the government for approval.
"We shall proceed against these officers as soon as we
get the nod from the government," a top ACB official told media
in Hyderabad on Monday.
Only one IPS officer, J G Murali, has been prosecuted
by ACB in the last one year though as many as 38 cases are
pending against 15 officers, the official said.
Many heads of government departments are also on the
ACB list for possessing assets disproportionate to their
known sources of income.
"In 2009, our main target would be the AIS (All India
Services) officers and the heads of departments. Our focus
would be on cracking down on corruption at high places," ACB
Director General R R Girish Kumar has said.
The sources said ACB could not proceed against the AIS
officers as the state government has not given the requisite
go-ahead for that.
"We have been constantly writing to the government
for securing the approval to launch cases against the
top-ranking officers. But there has been no response from the
government for many months now," a top ACB official said.
Even in instances where senior officials had been
booked for cases related to graft and criminal misconduct, the
government's "failure" to act on the ACB reports has enabled
these officers to continue in their posts, the sources said.
A case in point is the senior officials of the Greater
Hyderabad Municipal Corporation booked for allegedly
accumulating wealth through illegal means, they said.
Though relevant reports had been submitted to the
government, no action against the officers came forth, the
sources added.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, December 29, 2008, 00:00