The Aam Aadmi Party has alleged that the state government is protecting the corrupt officials from the punishment even though their corruption activities have been exposed in the A C B raid.
Speaking in the press meet held at Press Club, A A P City President Mohan Dasari said, “It’s been 6 years since A C B came into existence as a substitute to Lokayukta and till now only 4 people have been punished. More than 989 government officials and workers have been raided in relation to undeclared assets cases. But within a few days of the raids, these officials have been going back to their respective offices and posts as if nothing had happened.”
Speaking about the issue in detail, state media convener Jagadish V Sadam said, “More than 1,600 cases have been filed in A C B in the last 6 years. Among these cases, only 615 officials have been chargesheeted. The permission of SAKSHAMA Pradhikara is not granted for the probe of 368 accused officials. More than 80kg of jewellery, more than Rs. 50 crore cash and documents related to thousands of crores worth assets have been confiscated in the raids. 1,519 officials have been arrested and ACB has recommended the suspension of 1,219 officials. Still, only four officials getting punished shows how much this system has been spoiled.”
“The only intent behind constituting the A C B in the leadership of the chief minister is to make the institution of Lokayukta toothless and to protect the corrupt people. At least now a law should be formulated to make Lokayukta police to work under Prevention of Corruption Act. The government should seriously think about strengthening Lokayukta.”
A A P State legal unit president Nanjappa Kalegowda said, “The government is not willing to fill the vacant posts of Lokayukta and Deputy Lokayukta. Government should appoint able people to those posts immediately. The institution should be revived by giving it more autonomy. The statistics of confiscated records, jewellery which are returned to the officials should be released in the public domain.”
