List of 'corrupt' babus given to HC

HYDERABAD: The state government on Tuesday submitted to the AP High Court a list of 10 IAS officers against whom it dropped charges of corruption between 2004 and 2007. Complying with an earlier directive of the court following a petition filed by IAS officer Md Shafiquzzaman, the government gave the list. The government already gave the names of six officers against whom corruption charges were dropped in 2002 and 2003. The petitioner is seeking details of IAS officers against whom the state withdrew charges despite a recommendation from ACB and other agencies to prosecute them. The following are the names of the IAS officials furnished to the court by K G Krishna Murthy, government pleader for general administration department: Vinod Kumar Agarwal, form commissioner, tribal welfare; G Narendranath, form settlement officer, Visakhapatnam; S Bhale Rao, former principal secretary, health; R S Goel, former AP labour commissioner; Priyadarshi Dash, former MD, AP State Trading Corporation; B Narasaiah, former director of employment and training; B Kripanandam, former secretary, board of intermediate education; D Vara Prasad, former RDO, Tenali; D R Garg, former secretary, AP social welfare residential educational institutions society; and G S G Ayyangar, former additional commissioner, municipal corporation of Hyderabad. The government counsel replied in positive when justice N V Ramana, after going through the final list, sought to know if this was the final one. Counsel for the petitioner, P V Krishnaiah, claimed that the information given by the state government was still inadequate in many respects. Krishna Murthy said the ACB had recommended departmental action against these IAS officers and that the government, after obtaining explanations from them, felt that no further proceedings were needed. The judge then gave the state two days time to file an affidavit that this indeed was the final list and that there were no further cases where such proceedings were dropped. Meanwhile, a division bench comprising chief justice Anil R Dave and justice R Subhash Reddy on Tuesday posted the case that sought a CBI inquiry into the revelations of former vigilance commissioner Rama Chandra Samal to three weeks. The petitioner in this case also expressed doubts about the integrity of several top officials in the state.
THE TIMES OF INDIA; 26 Mar 2008, 0400 hrs IST , TNN