Send graft cases of IAS officers in time: Centre to states

Noting instances of delay, the Centre has asked all state governments to send corruption cases involving IAS officers to it in time.
The state governments must be aware of the fact that the decision on such proposal requires considerable time. However, it has been observed that at times the state governments are sending the proposal for imposing the penalties to the charged officers in the last one or two months before retirement, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said in an order.
This has been viewed seriously by the competent authority, it said.
Even if the situation warrants that the proposal should be entertained in a lesser time, a responsible officer of the state government should submit the proposal to the DoPT in person, stating the urgency of the matter, as well as explaining the delay caused in sending the proposal within the stipulated time frame, the order issued to all states said.

If the reason stated by the state government seems genuine, the same shall be accepted as a special case, the DoPT said.
The DoPT has already introduced a 'single window system' which is effective from March 1, 2014. "It has been further observed that sometimes proposals are being received directly by post, which is leading to wastage of time, and are therefore being returned to the state government for submitting the same in the 'single window system'," it said.

The proposals for imposing the three major penalties i.E. compulsory retirement, removal and dismissal from service are to be sent to the DoPT at least 9 months before the retirement of the officer and in exceptional cases not less than 6 months before the date of retirement, the directive said.

As per rules, the competent authority for imposing the major penalties in respect of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers is the DoPT.
After receiving the complete proposal from concerned state governments, the same requires tentative approval of the competent authority in the DoPT and consulting Union Public Service Commission.
The Commission advice is also served to the member of service for his or her representations if any, and the approval of the competent authority in the DoPT for passing the final order. The whole process involves at least 9-10 month's time, the DoPT said in the order explaining the procedure.

All state governments and central government ministries have been asked to follow the procedure and send such proposal well in time.