lucknow-based RTI activists alleged that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has been claiming his intention of acting firmly against corruption but in his own Sales Tax department, complaints of corruption seem to be ignored even at his level.
Nutan Thakur claimed that the Notesheet obtained by her make it apparent how chief minister’s Departmental officers are devising ways to save the alleged officers merely on technical grounds.
Previous Sales Tax Commissioner Himanshu Kumar collected important information about corrupt officers in his department from various channels and through his letter dated 05 December 2012 he sent a list of 11 most notorious officers for confidential enquiry and 20 others for Intelligence gathering by the Vigilance Department. So far there has been no action in this regards, claimed Nutan Thakur.
The Notesheet of the concerned file makes it apparent that the Department has been helping these officers for the last six months on various technical grounds and even Akhilesh Yadav has been approving the departmental recommendation. While Kumar had only asked for confidential enquiry and intelligence gathering, the Department has been refusing further action on the ground of the letter not being as per the format prescribed in a 12
December 1995 GO of the Vigilance Department.
Nutan Thakur said that after she sent a letter for further action, the Department has sent another letter to the new Commissioner on 13 June 2013 but the language of the letter makes it clear that despite strong recommendation of the previous Commissioner, the Department does not want to act and wants to ignore the complaints.