Move To Cover Up Names Of Corrupt Up Officials

A last ditch effort is afoot to prevent the UP IAS Association from disclosing the names of the three most corrupt officials in service. The Association had conducted a secret ballot earlier to agree on the names. The Associations AGM, set for February 15, is expected to hand over the names to the CBI.

IAS officers are planning to descend in UP by the planeload on February 14th, in what is being seen as a move to contain the damage. None other then the cabinet secretary, TSR Subramaniam, is set to lead the group.

Many among the group figure in the list of allottees in the Noida land scam. The scam saw parks being converted into residential plots, the latter into industrial or commercial plots and so on.

 

The money made in the process is mind boggling.

We shall welcome large participation of the officers in the meeting so that all can give their opinion and participate in the process. But the results will be declared on February 15, an office bearer of the IAS Association said.

The secret ballot has seen the atmosphere in the Uttar Pradesh bureaucracy taking a dramatic turn.

For instance, Neera Yadav, the chief of the Noida Development Authority, when she was cornered, tried to hit back by naming a few dozen more officers involved in the scam. She prevailed upon Governor Romesh Bhandari that the terms of reference for judicial inquiry should include all the previous CEOs of Noida.

Bhandari, who had already diluted the thrust by refusing permission for a CBI inquiry, was quite willing to do that. In essence, this step would have short-circuited the probe. But Bhandari was not allowed to have his way.

The normally soft-spoken and pliable chief secretary, Brijendra Sahai, put his foot down. He reportedly went to Bhandari and made it clear that these terms of reference were not acceptable and threatened to resign if they were not changed. In the face of strong pressure from the bureaucracy, Bhandari had no option but to relent and make the inquiry focus on Neera Yadav.

A second example is the recent Income Tax raids on eight officials. They have lost large sums of money and property which they had accumulated. More importantly, they have been stripped of their posts. They are virtually on the streets and have no offices.

Earlier, caught officials were merely transferred. After lying low for a year or two, they used to bounce back. But not now. Among those raided, Brijendra Yadav, who was the district magistrate of Kanpur in 1984, was indicted by the Ranganath Misra Inquiry committee report for his role in the riots, where 116 Sikhs were slain in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi assassination.

Nothing happened to Yadav. Successive Congress chief ministers saved him. And so did Mulayam Singh, Kalyan Singh and Mayawati. But now he has been finally caught in the most unexpected circumstances. Nobody is coming forward to save him.

Yet another example is that of the recent grilling of the directors of Sahara India Ltd. They were called to the office of income tax department and were subjected to sustained interrogation for hours together.

Earlier, whenever such a need arose, IT officials used to go to their office or residence, to interrogate.

But not this time, the directors tried to repeat the earlier routine, but were firmly told to present themselves before the officials at the department office. Sahara India is close to both Raj Babbar and Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The change in atmosphere has led to strengthening of the fence-sitters in the bureaucracy. Now they are determined to not to cast their lot with the corrupt. Surendra Mohan, who recently retired from the service, has unequivocally supported the move, thus strengthening the cleansing drive.

What at one time looked impossible is now the vogue. The system is trying to purge itself.