So much for corruption-free Odisha! No prosecution sanctioned against 28 ‘corrupt’ IAS officers

Exposing the Odisha government’s claims of dealing corruption with an iron fist, a recent RTI report revealed that the State government did not sanction prosecution against 28 IAS officers trapped in vigilance net.

As per the RTI report, the Odisha Vigilance tried to initiate prosecution against 45 IAS officers between 2000 and 2022, but the BJD-led State government sanctioned a trial against 17 of them sparing the rest 28.

Out of the 17 against whom trials were initiated, only six officers were suspended and were later reinstated too. Only one officer, Vinod Kumar was dismissed from job after conviction by the court.

It is worthwhile to mention here that the Vigilance Department comes under the General Administration Department which is Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's portfolio along with the Home Department.

Speaking about the procedure and trial, former Vigilance Director, Anup Kumar Patnaik said, “Trial cannot happen until the prosecution is sanctioned by the government. No court will take cognizance of the case if the government does not allow it. As the government of India is the final sanctioning authority of the IAS officers, the State government sends the request to the Centre to allow prosecution against the accused officers and the Centre responds.”

“However, in some special cases, the court can order a departmental enquiry without approval from the Centre,” he added.

While other employees do not enjoy the cushion the IAS officers have, questions have been raised on the intent of the State government when it comes to these officers.

Former Chief Secretary, Sahadev Sahoo alleged that senior IAS officers get away scot-free as the State government never sends the file to the Centre denying proceedings against them.

“Vigilance cases are special. They are reviewed only by the Chief Secretary. The Chief Secretary then sends the sealed file to the Chief Minister for his approval. As per the norms, the CM should open the letter himself, but at times, his Private Secretary opens the letter and tries to influence the CM to not send it to the Centre,” Sahoo said.

“In fact, when I was the Chief Secretary, the PS of the CM had many times opened the recommendation letter to which I had vehemently objected,” Sahoo said.

As per a Central Vigilance Commission circular, when such sanction under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act is required against an IAS/IPS/IFS officer by the State Government and the concerned officer is serving in connection with the affairs of the State Government, the Competent Authority under the State Government is required to examine the case on the basis of evidence on records and forward the documents to the Central Government along with their views/recommendation/sanction if any, issued by the State Government under Section 197(1) of the Cr.PC.

(Reported By Laxminarayan Kanungo, OTV)