Cabinet to take fresh call on anti-graft law

Wait to get a strong law against corrupt politicos and babus in Jharkhand has got little longer. The reason behind is the Ordinance passed by the Cabinet on June 2 is yet to knock the Raj Bhawan's door for getting approval of the Governor.It is learnt that the set of guidelines passed by the Raghubar Das Cabinet was sent to the law Department for its vetting and assent while the latter, in turn, has returned the Ordinance suggesting certain amendments.

“The Ordinance had been sent to the law Department for its approval but the Department has raised objections to certain technical words used in it which may be replaced or deleted. In about a week or so the Ordinance has been returned to the Cabinet Vigilance Department. It would now be sent back again to the Cabinet for its approval on the amendments suggested,” an official of the Cabinet Vigilance Department told The Pioneer on Tuesday.

The Cabinet had approved the Section (C) of the Anti-Corruption Act-1988 that has provisions to deal with public servants who have earned properties more than their known sources of income. For this purpose the “Jharkhand Special Court Ordinance-2015” was brought that would empower the special courts to confiscate illegally earned property of corrupt officials.

By this, the Government had added a new chapter in the otherwise tainted history of the State by approving best practices of other States in order to contain the institutional corruption in existence here. The Ordinance has provisions to set up array of fast-track special courts in the State with powers to forfeit wealth and properties amassed by public servants by adopting corrupt means.

However, the officials denied that the suggested amendment may alter with the sharpness of the Ordinance in any way and termed those precisely technical in nature. “The provisions adopted from other States in this regard and their merit to deal with corrupts have not got altered with. Those are nowhere related to potency of the anti-graft law. But as per the provisions, any alteration with the originally passed Cabinet proposal has to be stamped by the Cabinet afresh,” he added.

Pertinent here is to mention that another Ordinance brought by the Government providing window of opportunity to sale tax payers in arbitration after the aforesaid one has already been assented by the Governor and notified.The Pioneer had first reported that such a draft aiming to deal with unethical acts committed by public servants was in the advanced stage of preparation and teams of officials had conducted studies of the relevant provisions in place in the Acts of Odisha and few others like Bihar.