Assam govt likely to allow police action against 15 officials

Assam government is likely to allow the police for filing chargesheet against 15 public servants, including state civil service officers, in corruption cases, a source in the Home Department told PTI.

Of the 15, four had been in the rank of additional deputy commissioner between 2003 and 2017 - the period when the cases were filed.

As per rule, the police have sought sanction from the government to go ahead with filing of chargesheets against the officials in as many as 11 corruption cases across the state.

"The government has received requests for prosecution sanctions against some officials. It is under consideration. As the thrust of the government is zero tolerance for any kind of corruption, the necessary sanctions will be issued in the coming days," the Home Department source told PTI.

Some of the cases were related to land, including frauds in providing compensation to people during expansion of national highway in a few districts of Upper Assam, he added.

"These cases were registered between 2003 and 2017 by various government agencies, including the CID and local police stations. Most of the proposals for prosecution sanction were sought during June-July this year," the source said.

The Assam Police has sought permission to take action against five Assam Civil Services (ACS) officials, one Assam Police Services (APS) official and three senior tax officials.

The ACS officers had been additional deputy commissioners of Jorhat, Kamrup Metropolitan, Dhemaji and Sivasagar districts during the period under investigation.

The list also includes another ACS officer, who had been the circle officer of the Sivasagar revenue circle, while the lone APS officer had been the additional superintendent of police in Karbi Anglong district.

Without sharing the details of the cases, the source said one additional commissioner of taxes, one superintendent of taxes and an inspector of taxes have also been named in corruption charges in the list to government.

"Besides, there are officials such as gram sevaks, accountant and engineers. The alleged corruption charges were reported from Barpeta, Sivasagar, Kamrup Metropolitan, Jorhat, Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao and Tinsukia," he added.