Bhubaneswar: At least 36 public servants have been dismissed from service in Odisha after being convicted in different corruption cases and 285 similar cases have been registered against officials including 48 class-I officers during 2013, official sources said.
The anti-corruption vigilance wing of the Odisha Police continued its efforts to weed out corruption and to check siphoning of public money, an official said, adding in 2013, the department has registered 285 cases in which 48 Class-I and 36 Class-II officers were involved.
Investigation of 365 criminal cases were successfully completed and charge sheets were filed in 347 cases against 620 public servants and others, the official said.
Among the important cases were the much hyped multi-crore illegal ming case involving the iron ore and manganese mines at Uliburu in Keonjhar district, he said.
In another case, the Sambalpur division of the vigilance department registered cases against officials of the Sundergarh District Central Cooperative Bank Limited (Mahila Branch), Rourkela on allegations of cheating the bank and misappropriation of funds.
Two such cases were also registered against officials of the State Cooperative Bank and Bijayananda Cooperative Sugar Mill, Bolangir on allegations of illegal sanction and disbursement of loans.
During the year, the official pointed out, as many as 174 cases were disposed off with conviction of 89 accused public servants and others in 83 cases.
Special efforts were made by the state vigilance department in confiscating disproportionate assets of corrupt public servants, the official said, adding the Vigilance Commercial Tax wing detected 366 cases for suppression of gross turnover of Rs 1423.57. Besides, Rs 12.84 crore have been collected during Field Enforcement Activities.
The Vigilance Forest Wing detected 127 cases for violation of the Forest Act, and forest produces and machineries worth of Rs 1,39,26,459 have been seized, he added.