The prime minister’s advice was well received. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a key ministry under his charge—the ministry of personnel. Not only has it failed to take action against corrupt bureaucrats, it has also failed to push for the ratification of a key United Nations convention against graft that would make it easier for the government to punish errant officials.
Instead, information gleaned by Outlook using the Right to Information Act shows that scores of officers from the IAS, IPS and other key services continue to get promoted, posted to sensitive positions and enjoy the benefits of power despite being chargesheeted by several anti-corruption agencies. Needless to say, this is in complete contravention of the service rules framed by the ministry of personnel and the Union home ministry.
Mahesh Kumar Gupta, a 1987 batch IAS officer from the UP cadre, is a classic case on how to bend service rules to get ahead. On September 9, 2008, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Gupta in a recruitment scam that had taken place nearly 10 years ago. The chargesheet, a significant document in the prosecution of a criminal, serves as proof that the investigating agency (such as the CBI) has found enough evidence during the investigation to prosecute the accused. The case goes back to 1998 when Gupta, as the head of a recruitment committee, allegedly called up the shortlisted candidates and took bribes to recruit them.
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But Gupta is part of a long tradition in UP which has seen the likes of IAS officers such as Neera Yadav and A.P. Singh—voted as the “most corrupt” by the UP IAS officer’s association themselves—being promoted as chief secretaries.
In the neighbouring state of Haryana, Anand Mohan Sharan, a 1990 batch officer, was charged by the CBI in two cases for a dda land allotment scam in 2004 and 2005. But Sharan, instead of cooling his heels, continued to land plum posts. Till recently, he held dual charges including the lucrative assignment of transport commissioner of Haryana while also serving as the state’s additional resident commissioner in Delhi. The ministry of personnel or the Union home ministry could have ensured that Sharan never served in sensitive posts which could prove lucrative for corrupt officers. Instead, Sharan continues to be in service while the case meanders on.
Similarly, Rajesh Kumar Srivastav, an additional commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and an IAS officer of the 1984 batch, has 10 FIRs filed against him by the CBI. Srivastav was the registrar of societies when a major cooperative housing scam surfaced in Delhi. Ideally, Srivastav should have been sidelined. Instead, despite being chargesheeted in all 10 cases between 2006 and 2009, Srivastav continues to be promoted and posted in sensitive positions. After 2001, when the alleged crime took place, Srivastav has served as a chief electoral officer and in the departments of finance and social justice. He has also been a member of the state commission for the protection of child rights and is now the additional commissioner.
The tale is not too different in the South. Nagambika Devi and Mahendra Jain, two IAS officers of the Karnataka cadre, should have been shunned years ago. While Nagambika was accused of misappropriating funds while serving as chief executive officer of the Uttara Kannada Zilla Panchayat and chargesheeted in October 2004, she continued to get her promotions on time. Currently, as commissioner, higher education, she has a major role in the sector.
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Mahendra Jain is currently on central deputation to the commerce ministry. The Karnataka Lokayukta charged him in January 2009 with causing huge losses to the state exchequer when he was MD of Mysore Minerals, a state-owned company, between 2006-08. Jain was earlier private secretary to Deve Gowda when he was the prime minister. But unfazed by these charges, the ministry of personnel cleared his posting as a joint secretary-level officer under the Union commerce ministry, serving as the nodal officer for the special economic zone in Navi Mumbai.
In Andhra Pradesh, L.V. Subramanyam, a 1983 batch officer, has been accused of cheating and criminal conspiracy in his capacity as vice-chairman of the apiic, a state government-promoted infrastructure company. But despite a CBI case being registered on August 30, 2000, Subramanyam has risen effortlessly to become the state’s principal secretary, health.
Many senior IPS officers lead an equally charmed life. The Karnataka Lokayukta conducted several raids on the residences of Hemanth Nimbalkar, a young 1998 batch IPS man, in Belgaum, Kolhapur and Mumbai in March 2009. He was accused of amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income, running into crores. Suspended in May 2009 when he was attached to the anti-terror cell, he was recently reinstated as SP, intelligence. Jija Harisingh, a 1975 batch IPS officer, was charged by the state’s Lokayukta in January 2009 for causing losses running into several hundred crores to the state-owned Mysore Minerals during her tenure between 2004-06. But Jija is now a director-general of police rank officer even while the case is in the Karnataka High Court.
These are but a few of the hundreds of names of senior IAS and IPS officials who have been accused, in some cases even chargesheeted, but continue to serve in key positions, dealing with thousands of crores of rupees in public funds and affecting policy-making decisions that impact the lives of millions of ordinary citizens.
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By Saikat Datta in New Delhi, Sugata Srinivasaraju in Bangalore and Sharat Pradhan in
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