Himachal court seeks list of 'tainted' officials

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has asked the state's chief secretary for a list of government functionaries with doubtful integrity.

A division bench of Chief Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice Kuldip Singh directed Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy Wednesday to file an affidavit by Oct 1 listing the names of "tainted" officials and their postings.

The list may include officials who have been convicted in courts, awarded major penalty in departmental enquiries, against whom proceedings for a major penalty in a departmental enquiry have been started or who were facing trial.

The high court also sought details of officials who were prosecuted but got acquitted in trial courts on technical grounds.

The court would next hear the matter Oct 3.

The high court order comes on the plea of former drug controller Sher Singh Thakur, who was convicted in June 2011 for corruption, against the state to set aside the departmental proceedings against him.

Last September, while hearing the same petition, the high court asked the government to furnish a list of functionaries involved in corruption and moral turpitude over the past 10 years.