IEP Chandigarh, January 24
In a proactive drive against corruption in government departments, Haryana Anti Corruption Bureau in line with the zero-tolerance policy of the State Government, has registered a record number of cases related to graft in the previous year which enabled the state government to put a check on the corrupt practices in the government offices. The Bureau registered 205 cases (including 152 traps) in 2023 which is the second-highest number during the last 10 years.
The Bureau has conducted 152 raids in the year 2023 & recovered Rs. 86,12,300/- on the spot and arrested 186 government servants, including 30 gazetted officer, 156 non-gazetted officials and 40 private individuals, during the year 2023.
Sharing the information here today, Director General, Anti Corruption Bureau, Haryana, said that out of the 205 cases, 152 were registered on raid/trap and 53 cases were registered on complaints/enquiries. On average, 16 public servants were arrested on corruption charges every month.
Informing how the Bureau has been able to crack down on such a large number of corrupt officials in the past year, Sh. Kapur said that the Anti Corruption Bureau has shifted its focus from junior-level staff to also include senior ranks, who are often the kingpins in running organised corruption rackets. The remarkable spurt in the number of raids and arrests of senior officials is being seen as a clean-up act by the Bureau under the directives of Chief Minister Sh. Manohar Lal as part of his zero-tolerance policy towards rooting out corruption at all levels.
CM Shri Manohar Lal has approved various initiatives of ACB like setting up a revolving fund to provide ‘trap money’ to the aggrieved people lodging complaints against government officials demanding bribes. With this, complainants no longer have to worry about arranging the trap money from their own pockets, he added. The government has also sanctioned 809 additional posts to strengthen ACB, changed the system of appointment of independent witnesses to check leakage of information, and created six Divisional Anti-Corruption Bureaus amongst others. Further, Rs. 100 crores have been allocated to strengthen Anti-Corruption related initiatives in Haryana for the financial year 2023-2024.
Highlighting the arrests of some high-ranking officials/big raids, he informed that (i) two Medical Officers in separate incidents were caught red-handed taking Rs. 5,00,000/- & 1,52,000/- respectively as bribe. (ii) A private person was caught red-handed taking Rs. 10,00,000/- as bribe and co-accused in this case – an Assistant Town Planner – was also arrested. (ii) Two private persons were caught red-handed taking Rs. 3,00,000/- each as bribe in separate incidents and their co-accused two All India Service officers were also arrested in these cases. (iv) A Deputy Forest Ranger was caught red-handed taking Rs. 3,00,000/- as bribe & co-accused one HFS officer was arrested. (v) One HCS and an HPS officer were also arrested in two separate corruption cases. (vi) An Enforcement Officer of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation & a private person were caught red-handed taking Rs. 7,00,000/- as bribe. (vii) A Patwari of Revenue Department was caught red-handed taking Rs. 5,00,000/- as bribe and co-accused one Patwari & one Section officer were arrested in this case. (viii) A General Manager, Field Inspector & Accountant of HAFED were caught red-handed taking Rs. 3,50,000/- as bribe. (ix) An Assistant Superintendent of Prisons Department was caught red-handed taking Rs. 1,00,000/-. (x) A Sub Divisional Officer of Public Health Engineering department & co-accused one Junior Engineer were caught accepting Rs. 1,20,000/- bribe. (xi) A Manager of Haryana Forest Development alongwith two co-accused persons were caught accepting Rs. 1,00,000/- bribe.
He further revealed that 49 police personnel, 21 officers/officials of the Revenue Department, 10 of Power Utilities, 7 of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumers Affairs, 6 of Urban Local Bodies, 5 of Health Services, 4 of Cooperation, 4 of Education Department, 4 of Excise & Taxation, 4 of Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board, 4 of Public Health Engineering, 2 of Development & Panchayats Department, 2 of Forest Department, 2 of Home Guards, 2 of Irrigation Department, 2 of Justice of Administration Department, 2 of Land records & Consolidation, 2 of Prisons and 14 of other departments like Accounts & Treasury, Employees State Insurance Corporation, HAFED, Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam, Haryana State Warehousing Corporation, Home, HSIIDC, HSVP, Labour & Employment, Mining & Geology, Panchayati Raj, SC & BC Welfare, Skill Development and Industrial Training & Transport, were nabbed red-handed while taking bribes ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 10 lakh in separate cases.
Apart from conducting enquiries referred by the government, the Bureau also collects information available in the public domain and various other sources to identify potential cases from time to time. This helps the Bureau in laying traps and nabbing those who are demanding and accepting bribes.
He informed that fully functional ACB offices have been made operational upto the district level. In yet another initiative, the complainants who play a proactive role in realizing the state government’s drive to make Haryana corruption-free, are honoured with ‘Samman Patras’. The Bureau also facilitates the complainants post-raid regarding their pending issues with the offices concerned.
During the year 2023, the Bureau has also initiated proposals for the attachment of property of tainted public servants involved in corruption cases. After obtaining the concurrence of the government, petitions have been filed for attaching property earned out of proceeds of crime in 6 cases, which are at advanced stage.
During its ongoing crusade against corruption in 2023, the Bureau has registered 31 enquiries against 12 gazetted officers, 10 non-gazetted officials & 7 private persons on the direction of the state government. During the year, 82 enquiries were finalised.
Out of 82 enquiries completed during 2023, the Bureau has recommended registration of criminal case against 34 gazetted officers, 10 non-gazetted officials and 47 private persons in 14 enquiries. In 22 enquires, departmental action against 12 gazetted officers and 27 non-gazetted officials has been recommended and in yet another 9 enquiries, registration of criminal cases alongwith departmental action against 19 gazetted officers, 32 non-gazetted officials & 66 private persons. Thus, in all action has been recommended against 65 gazetted officers, 69 non-gazetted officials & 113 private persons in 45 enquiries and the remaining 37 enquiries were closed as the allegations were not proved.
In addition to this, during the year, 10 technical reports have been sent to the Govt., in which the Bureau has recommended departmental action against 9 gazetted officers, 5 non-gazetted officers and to recover Rs. 9,20,466/- from the concerned agencies.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau is committed to intensifying the drive against corruption and all cases of bribery have been dealt with strictly and more crackdowns will follow in the coming days. The Bureau has also urged the people to fight against corruption and report complaints of bribery on its Toll-free numbers 1800-180-2022 and 1064 and WhatsApp number 094178-91064.
