The Andhra Pradesh Non- Gazetted Officers’ Association strongly objected to projection of market values of properties by the Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) in cases relating to disproportionate assets (DA) to their known sources of income. It alleged that the ACB officials were not implementing rules uniformly in the arrests.
APNGOs Association State Associate president Chowdary Purushottam Naidu organised a high-level meeting in Srikakulam with association leaders over the denial of bail to AP Commercial Tax Officer G. Lakshmi Prasad though he had been suffering from cancer. The leaders decided to meet the senior ACB officials in Vijayawada and file a case in court over the issue.
“The association has no objection to the arrest of employees who were caught red-handed while accepting bribe. We don’t have sympathy for them. But in cases related to disproportionate assets, the ACB is projecting huge amount before media but files charge-sheet with nominal amount. In Lakshmiprasad’s case, the ACB said he had properties worth more than ₹100 crore. But the investigative officer had shown properties worth ₹6.27 crore in the charge-sheet. It exposes flaws in the ACB’s statements and charge-sheet,” he said.
“Many officials might have bought properties a few decades ago and their value might have gone up with skyrocketing land prices. Huge appreciation for their properties should not mean that they had earned money illegally. Moreover, the ACB is not verifying annual property statements. It is being misled in many cases with false complaints lodged by rival employees,” he added.
Their respect cannot be restored even if the charges are proved wrong in the ACB court since damage is already done after the raids and arrests, he said.
People’s representatives
APNGOs district units brought the issue to the notice of the Association State president P.Ashok Babu and general secretary N. Chandrasekhar Reddy. A high-level delegation will meet Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu very soon to stop arrests in ACB cases with regard to properties. “Prevention of Corruption Act is applicable to public representatives also since they get salaries and other benefits from the government. But ACB is not touching them,” he said.
