Has Anti-corruption Move Failed In Jharkhand?

Struggling to salvage his pledge to eradicate corruption from the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only resorted to a crackdown on his successor in Gujarat and the State Chief Minister, Anandiben Patel for her alleged role of providing patronage to her kin to amass huge property in the State that presumably led to her possible ouster, but he declined to hold a meeting with a tainted official from Jharkhand too.

Amid speculations about the possible ouster of the Gujarat CM from her post, well-placed sources in the PMO confirmed that the PM had refused to hold meeting with Jharkhand CM, Raghubar Das on May 14 unless one of the officials accompanying the latter was sent out of the meeting venue in the PMO. Reason: one of the officials enlisted to be present with the CM during the meeting was tainted.

Consequently, the CM was left with no option except to send the officer out and replace him with an upright official who happened to be senior to the tainted official but was kept as a stand-by -- for reasons best known to the CM only -- to assist Das in case of any crisis during the meeting. Sources claimed that the alternative arrangement had to be made in haste to replace the tainted officer with his senior before the arrival of the PM at the meeting venue.

Sources confided that a list of four officers including the State Chief Secretary, Rajbala Verma and Additional Chief Secretary to Finance department, Amit Khare was approved by the PMO to accompany the CM during the meeting. When the PM went through the list, he reacted to the inclusion of the name of one of the rest two officials in the list. He directed his office to confirm the antecedents of the officer in the light of the complaint lodged against him earlier.

The Principal Secretary-rank IAS officer -- who is on deputation in Jharkhand at present -- has been stigmatized by opposition stalwarts time and again for his dubious role during his tenure in his parent cadre State. The officer is alleged to have been involved in financial irregularities during his tenure in his parent cadre and a vigilance probe is still on against him at the behest of the High Court. The demand for his removal from the key post --that he holds in Jharkhand at present -- has been raised by opposition leaders time and again and they have even apprised the Prime Minister of his dubious antecedents too.

One of the former CMs of the State had shot off a letter to the Prime Minister leveling allegations of corruption against the officer and urged the PM to issue directives to the CM to keep him away from the discharge of his duties unless the on-going probe against him concluded. Reacting to the allegations made by top opposition leaders from the State, the State units of the central intelligence agencies also sent their reports to the Centre. In its report to the Centre, one of the intelligence agencies claimed that in spite of the fact that the officer was facing graft charges and a probe was on at the behest of the High Court, he had been entrusted with the task to deal with secret and important files in the Government.

As per the intelligence report, in the State the officer belongs to, the anti-corruption bureau has registered a case against him in the light of the High Court order to determine the truth about allegations that have been levelled in a writ petition filed by one Sudhir Kumar Ojha before it. Acting upon the petition, the High Court directed the State Government on February 23, 2015 to constitute an impartial probe into the matter against the officer in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the State Health Department under the nose of the officer. Subsequently, Ojha asked the superior officer in the State Health Department on March 16, 2015 to conduct an enquiry into the matter by an independent agency.

Surprisingly, in spite of his alleged involvement in a multi-crore scam that is being probed at the behest of the High Court, the officer has been rewarded with a plum post in Jharkhand, ostensibly with the blessings of the Chief Minister.

To top it all, the pertinent question is whether the anti-corruption move launched by Modi has failed to have an impact in Jharkhand or tainted officials have succeeded in invoking blessings of their political masters to enjoy immunity while falling prey to corrupt practices in the State?

Note: Name of the officer has been withheld deliberately.