19 February,2015 06:35 AM IST | | Vinay Dalvi
ACB wants to file chargesheets against government officials, but state has not yet given the go-ahead; 97 cases are from home department, which is under Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis
Corrupt babus are still to be brought to book after having been caught in the act - simply because the state government has not permitted the police to do their duty. The Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is awaiting the state's permission to file chargesheets against 381 corrupt babus.
The home department, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has the maximum number of pending ACB proposals. File pic
This, after the BJP-led government came into power promising to act against corrupt officials. The ACB had arrested 381 officials from various departments of the state government for corruption. After the babus secured bail in court, the police need to secure permission from the respective departments in order to file chargesheets and prosecute the accused in the cases.
Pankaj and (right) Sameer Bhujbal
However, the government seems to have not acted in the matter. In fact, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote on social networking website, Twitter, that he had cleared the way for the ACB to do its duty. "All cases against public servant submitted to me by ACB to seek various permissions, have been cleared.
100% pendency cleared," reads his tweet on December 23. However, the home department, which is under Fadnavis, has 97 cases - the maximum number of proposals awaiting governmental sanction (see table).
Roaming free
Apart from this, nearly 175 babus who were caught taking bribes by the ACB are still roaming scot-free in their departments. The government has not suspended them, despite the ACB's requests and reminders.
This makes life difficult for the people who helped trap the accused, since the corrupt babu will now hold a grudge against the complainant. The courts convicted around 18 people after ACB's arrests and subsequent court cases, but the state is yet to terminate or dismiss them from the services.
The government has also been lackadaisical in its approach to inquiries 20 of them are still open and awaiting government permissions. These include ones involving former Cooperatives Minister Harshvardhan Patil from the Congress, Ujjwal Uke, an IAS officer and now principal secretary of the women and child department, and former NCP MLA Laxman Dhoble.
The CM's appointment of IAS officer Pravin Darade as his secretary had also shocked several senior officers, as Darade is already facing an ACB inquiry for allotting industrial plots for residential use. The only silver lining here is that inquiries against former PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal in Maharashtra Sadan scam, and former deputy CM Ajit Pawar in the irrigation scam have been cleared.
The state is also sitting on attached property worth Rs 193 crore: these includes properties in the names of Anandrao Jeevane, deputy secretary of urban development department, Rajesh Dhanawade, a police inspector, Narhari Sanap, Santosh Jadhav, Yuvraj Bangar, all tehsildars, and Nitish Thakur, a deputy collector.
