Out of the 91 cases booked by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against State government employees between 2007 to 2011, for which sanction orders were given by the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government, 36 were from the Revenue Department alone, while nine were from the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development departments.
Other cases were booked against erring officials from departments such as Agriculture, Co-operation and Marketing, Finance and Planning, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Industries and Commerce, Minorities Welfare, and others.
In total, cases were filed against public servants from 21 different State government offices.
‘Delay in response’
Though the ACB finally sent the details sought by C.J. Karira, the activist has questioned the delay of more than three years in furnishing the information. “The sad part is that this kind of information is available on the websites of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). I wonder why the ACB initially said it can’t give the information,” he wondered.
As per the documents give by Mr. Karira, his Right to Information (RTI) application dated May 12, 2012, was initially rejected by the ACB in its response dated June 16, 2012, in which it stated that the details of the 91 cases were ‘exempted’ from disclosure under section 8(1) (h) of the RTI Act, 2005.’
“Only after three hearings, they finally gave the information. Delay in giving information under the RTI Act beats the whole point of having the Act itself,” lamented Mr. Karira.
