Yash Airways ‘scam’: MP spl police establishment moves Centre for prosecution of IAS officers

Bhopal: Almost a decade after the Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta’s Special Police Establishment (SPE) opened a probe into the Ujjain’s Yash Airways airstrip ‘scam’, the anti-corruption agency on Monday moved to revive action against several senior IAS officers, including an ACS-rank officer and retired bureaucrats, by asking the state govt to send the proposal to the Centre for a decision on prosecution sanction, sources said. The case had kept senior bureaucrats and the state govt on edge for years.

The alleged scam revolves around Ujjain’s Datana airstrip. The state handed private firm Yash Air Limited the contract for maintenance and operations in 2006. Investigators suspect the company got undue benefits. These allegedly included exemption from night parking charges and a Rs 2.66-crore renovation despite reported payment defaults and halted operations. The alleged irregularities are believed to have caused losses to the state exchequer.

Last year, the state govt had denied prosecution sanction against all the officers, causing friction between the former Lokayukta and the former chief minister’s office. It was considered to be among state’s most high-profile probes taken over by the Lokayukta following legal proceedings against top-level bureaucrats.

After the investigation was completed, SPE in 2025 had sent a proposal to the state govt for sanction to prosecute the officers held accountable in the probe, but it was denied.

Lokayukta’s SPE has now sent a strong communication to the general administration department (GAD) asking the state to forward the proposal to the central department of personnel and training (DoPT) for a decision on prosecution sanction, arguing that the Centre is the competent authority in cases involving IAS officers.

Director general, SPE, Yogesh Deshmukh, confirmed the development. “Since the officers concerned belong to the All-India Services, the competent authority to decide on prosecution sanction is the DoPT. We have sent communication to the GAD on the matter,” Deshmukh told TOI.

According to the SPE communication, the prosecution sanction order issued by the state govt in October 2025 was legally unsustainable. The agency argued that IAS officers fall under the Centre’s jurisdiction. It cited a 1999 DoPT circular saying the Centre is the competent authority to decide prosecution sanction against All India Service officers.

The probe began in July 2015 after complaints alleging corruption by district collectors and PWD officials in connivance with directors of Yash Air Limited. A preliminary inquiry later led to an FIR in November 2019 under the Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal conspiracy charges.

Sources said the completed probe examined the role of nearly nine former district collectors and three PWD engineers. In 2020, the Madhya Pradesh high court refused to quash the FIR and directed the SPE to complete the probe expeditiously.