Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said the State is awaiting Presidential assent for the anti-corruption Bill pertaining to confiscation of disproportionate assets of convicted officials in the State.
Speaking on completion of his government’s fourth year in office, Mr. Kumar said that “while the government had tried to curb nefarious activities across the State by setting up special vigilance squads and conducting trials in fast track courts”, the existing laws will be more effective “once Bihar receives the Centre’s assent allowing a Bill to put a hold on the property of those convicted”.
The Chief Minister revealed that the number of anti-corruption cases registered during his regime had gone up substantially in contrast to the number registered when the RJD government was in power from 1990 to 2005.
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“The number of such cases was only 28.5 a year under the RJD rule in nine years from 1996 to 2005; now 110 anti-corruption cases have been registered in 2008 and 87 cases till September 2009,” said Mr. Kumar.