After the Prime Minister’s advice to catch the “big fish” to weed out corruption, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday urged Manmohan Singh to ensure early assent to a Bihar bill for dealing with corrupt public servants.
Asserting that it is “high time” for the Centre to step up measures to weed out corruption from the system, Mr. Kumar said, the Prime Minister must intervene to ensure clearance of the bill already passed by the two Houses of the state legislature.
The Prime Minister had on Wednesday asked CBI and state anti-corruption officials to aggressively pursue “high level corruption” saying the perception that “big fish” escape punishment must change and they should act swiftly and without fear.
The Bihar bill, which provides for confiscation of assets of public servants accumulated by them beyond their known sources of income, has been pending with the Centre for over five months. Mr. Kumar said he had raised the issue with Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily during their recent meeting.
“I can at least boast that Bihar is setting an example by drafting a bill to crackdown on corrupt officials,” the Chief Minister said. Further, the state government has planned speedy trial in cases related to corruption, he added.
