ACB probe against 541 officials hits ‘roadblock’ over pending nod

Jaipur: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has been unable to initiate probes against 541 govt employees in cases of disproportionate wealth, misappropriation of govt funds, and misuse of office, despite receiving complaints from the public.This is because requests for prior-approval to initiate investigations against these officials, which is mandatory under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, are pending with various departments.Apart from on-the-spot trap cases, the ACB must seek sanction under Section 17A of the PC Act from the head of the concerned department before initiating any investigation or inquiry against a govt employee.According to ACB records, these requests have been pending in over 149 cases for the past year and in about 400 cases for more than a year. As a result, complaints received by the ACB against govt officials are effectively being disregarded.Local self govt, panchayati raj, revenue board, urban development and housing (UDH), and cooperative departments have the maximum number of ACB requests pending with them."Pre-approval for investigation under Section 17A is different from prosecution sanction under Section 19(1) of the PC Act. Prosecution sanction is required to prosecute a govt servant after an FIR is registered against him or her. But under Section 17A, we can't even initiate any inquiry or investigation against a public servant without prior approval from the concerned authority, which in most cases is the head of the department," said a senior ACB officer.As per the law, the concerned department must take a decision on requests under Section 17A within three months. This period cannot be extended for more than one additional month after the expiry of the initial three months."This means that the head of the concerned govt department cannot withhold a decision on pending requests from the ACB for more than four months. They either have to deny or approve the request," the officer explained.Despite this clear legal mandate, approval for initiating investigations against public servants remains pending in 149 cases for periods ranging from three months to one year. In 392 cases, the approval from the concerned departments has been pending for more than a year.The officer noted that the ACB invests significant resources in creating public awareness about corruption. However, these efforts are undermined when complaints lodged by the public are rendered ineffective due to such procedural delays."People reach out to us hoping that we would take decisive action against corrupt officials, but our hands are tied," said the officer.
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