Two Indian Administrative Service officers belonging to the Madhya Pradesh cadre, Arvind Joshi and his wife, Tinoo, have been dismissed from service on charges of corruption.
The Income-Tax Department had found the couple to have amassed properties worth Rs.350 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income about four years ago.
According to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the dismissal orders have been served following an approval from the Union Public Service Commission. While Mr. Joshi was to retire next month, his wife was to superannuate in October. The 1979-batch IAS couple may challenge the order before the Central Administrative Tribunal or petition the President, Pranab Mukherjee.
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Following the Income-Tax raids, it was alleged that the couple owned 25 flats of which 18 are in Guwahati, six in Bhopal and one in New Delhi. Papers of seven plots at Patel Nagar in New Delhi were also recovered.
The couple reportedly bought agricultural and non-agricultural land at several places including Kanha and Bandhavgarh National Parks, Raisen, Balaghat, Sehore and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, according to an appraisal report by the Income Tax department.
The I-T department claimed that the raids had resulted in recovery of jewellery worth Rs. 67 lakh and foreign currency worth Rs. 7 lakh.
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Following the raids, the IAS officers were suspended in February 2010. Subsequently the Madhya Pradesh Government recommended that they be dismissed from service.
Stating that his government will have zero-tolerance towards corruption, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that his government would move court to seek confiscation of their property earned through illegal means.