March 29, 2024

The Bihar

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Sanction to prosecute 250 for graft pending for years

2 min read

Patna: The state vigilance department on Monday sent fresh reminders to the principal secretaries of general administration, education, health, environment and forest, water resources, panchayati raj and home departments, giving them lists of the officers against whom prosecution sanctions have been pending for years.

According to the vigilance list posted on the general administration department (GAD)’s website, the highest number of 22 cases is pending in GAD, followed by 10 in education department, seven in environment and forest, six each in panchayats raj and health and five each in water resources and home (police) departments.

The officers involved in vigilance cases include former chief engineers, retired ADMs, deputy collectors, former registrars of B N Mandal and L N Mithila University, heads of several postgraduate (PG) departments and principals of several colleges. In one of the cases, 31 university teachers of B N Mandal University, including PG heads, figure as accused.

Former IAS official Brijbhushan Sahay, who was commissioner in public health engineering department and who retired way back in 1990; former Bihar State Finance Corporation MD Ashok Kumar Singh who retired as chief secretary of Jharkhand and former HRD joint secretary Baghambar Prasad who superannuated many years ago are among the 250 officers and employees against whom the vigilance department’s pleas for sanction to prosecute them in graft cases have been gathering dust for, in many cases, decades.

Sahay was chargesheeted in a case, but the GAD sanction for his prosecution has been eluding the vigilance department since November 8, 1990. Singh’s case is awaiting prosecution sanction since August 2002. The vigilance department sought sanction against Prasad first on September 9, 1993.

The vigilance department is also awaiting sanction to prosecute seven Indian Forest Service officers. They include Arun Kumar Sinha, B C Nigam, Sarvesh Singhal, Mahendra Kardam, Sanget Kumar and Bhola Prasad, who were divisional forest officers between 1993 and 1994. Most of them were allotted Jharkhand cadre after bifurcation of Bihar. Some of them have since retired.

To cite some other cases, Brijendra Jha was the BDO of Benipur in Darbhanga when he was found involved in a corruption case. The vigilance department wrote to the government 22 years ago on November 6, 1991, seeking sanction to prosecute him. The vigilance department has even filed a charge sheet in the case, but is still awaiting sanction to prosecute him.

Dr Ramji Prasad Singh, who retired long back as the principal of Teachers’ Training College-Patna, is also an accused in a corruption case. The vigilance has written several letters to the education department since 1999 seeking sanction to prosecute him, but to no avail.

Chief secretary A K Sinha, after reviewing the progress of vigilance cases on Saturday, announced the government would take action against officials who delayed grant of sanction in corruption cases. Such officials would also face dismissal like the corrupt officers, he said.

Courtesy: TNN

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