Telangana: Energy department officers spurn ACB six times

Hyderabad: Cases of graft detected by the Anti-Corruption Bureau are often not punished because the concerned department does not accord approval for prosecution. 

The ACB caught red-handed four officers of the state energy department demanding a bribe. The file was sent to the energy department to get approval for prosecution but was rejected six times. The matter was instead entrusted to the commissioner of inquiry.

The incident that took place during Congress rule but the TRS regime closed the case. 

Since the accused were caught red-handed accepting the bribe, the ACB had a very strong case. Yet the state energy department said it was an "unfit case" and closed the file. The four have been subjected to departmental action and not judicial punishment.

The four accused are Ra-mana Prasad, deputy chief electrical; Bhaskar Reddy Bandla, office subordinate; Syed Ashrafuddin, senior assistant, state energy; Nagaiah Kanduri, private person (not a government official) and Udaya Sree, assistant electric inspector.

ACB case No. 032RCTCR22013 stated: “On reliable information and complaints received, the ACB laid a trap and caught four energy department officials accepting a bribe amount of Rs 60,000. The ACB after a detailed enquiry has stated that it is a foolproof case and seeks permission for prosecution, as the phenolphthalein test proved the fingerprint identification of the four accused.”

The file was sent twice to the Chief Minister’s Office by the department for approval of the suspension of the four and later approval of revocation of suspension. The file was first sent to the office of then Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.

It is not known why the file was sent to the Chief Minister’s Office as the regular procedure is that a committee of secretaries reviews suspension cases and not the CMO.

The ACB has been following up the case since then and repeatedly sought prosecution orders. Mr Padmanabha Reddy of the Forum for Good Governance, explained, “Approving prosecution requests by the ACB does not mean punishing the accused, but permitting the tainted officer to face the court. It is up to the court to decide either to acquit or convict.”

After four years of follow up, the state energy department reverted to the ACB, stating: “Dropped further action for four government officials” and “No action taken against the private person”. The case was closed this year.