HYDERABAD: The bitter rivalry between IAS and IPS officers took another turn on Tuesday with Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) director-general S S P Yadav defending��� in a short communication to chief secretary Mohan Kanda ��� his action of raiding the office and house of director of technical education G Anantha Ramu. This, after a furore was kicked off because the raid took place without written permission from the chief secretary, as is the procedure.
Yadav had indeed sought permission for the raid, but ACB moved ahead even before the okay was given. In the event, the government communicated to the ACB that permission was not being accorded for the raid.
Obviously, the reply reached ACB after the raid had taken place. The communication also mentioned that the denial of permission had the approval of chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. Yadav's missive has caught government officials on the wrong foot, although the raid on Anantha Ramu's house did not yield a shred of evidence against him. The raid had come after the IAS officer was detained at the Hyderabad airport for carrying Rs 21 lakh in cash without declaring the sum. An income-tax investigation in the matter is on.Worried officials said the government has to either initiate disciplinary action against Yadav for acting before securing clearance from the chief secretary or ratify his action post facto. At the same time, officials confessed that if action is taken against the police officer, it would further divide the IAS and IPS services, which are at loggerheads over recent ACB raids on bureaucrats. But ratifying Yadav's action could "embolden him" and cause problems to IAS officers in future, officials averred. Significantly, the ACB could not make out any case after raids on officers like J P Murthy in the past.