Centre approves prosecution of Pb ex-chief secy in 2009 graft case

Chandigarh: President Droupadi Murmu has accorded sanction to prosecute former Punjab chief secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua, a Punjab cadre IAS officer of 1989 batch, in a 2009 corruption case."The competent authority...considers that sufficient evidence has been brought on records to establish a prima-facie case for granting sanction for prosecution under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, as amended in 2018 against Vijay Kumar Janjua, retired IAS, the then director-cum-secretary, industry and commerce department, Punjab...," according to the Feb 11 department of personnel and training (DoPT) order. The seven-page order was placed on record before the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday by Satya Pal Jain, additional solicitor general of India, on behalf of the Centre during the hearing of a petition filed by Ludhiana-based industrialist alleging contempt of court. The court on Sept 15, 2023, ordered the state to forward all documents related to the sanction for prosecution of Janjua to the Centre within a stipulated period. Janjua, then posted as director-cum-secretary, industry and commerce department, was booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act after he was caught allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from Mishra in 2009. While the Punjab governor initially granted sanction in 2010, a trial court discharged Janjua in 2015 on the ground that the central govt, and not the state, was the competent authority to accord sanction. The issue was pending since then. On Sept 5, 2025, the Punjab government forwarded a proposal for granting sanction for prosecution after the vigilance bureau had stated that offences were made out against Janjua. The Punjab CM had also sent the proposal for approval of the competent authority.