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ACB to get more powerful With the new law, the ACB will have an upper hand in dealing with Class I gazette officials In an attempt to curb corruption of IAS officers, Home Minister RR Patil has decided to bestow additional powers to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). Speaking to this newspaper about the new law yesterday, Patil said, “The Home Ministry will seek amendments in the law to ambush the gazette officers, who are believed to have the support of the big-wigs in politics. The prevailing law is also efficient, but we want to make it more stringent and give more authority to ACB officials to trap the gazette officers. This will prove more effective in curbing corruption and the cases would get solved faster.” Elaborating on the amendment of the law, Patil further added, “When the gazette officials are in the ACB’s net, the ACB officials can go ahead with all the procedures right from registering the case till filing the charge sheet, if their concerned higher ups don’t give orders within the stipulated time. This will help them solve the case in a timely manner.” When asked about when the amendment will be passed, Patil said, “An amendment bill will be presented in the House for debate and after it is passed, it will be sent to Centre for its approval. However, due to some legal bindings, I won’t be able to say when the bill will be amended.” Meanwhile, Jeevan D. Virkar, Director General of Anti-Corruption Bureau said, “I am happy if the amendment is made. Under the present system, we have a clause wherein we have to take the permission of a competent Government Authority before proceeding with the case. Many a times, especially in case of Class I officers, it takes time to get permission and as Patil suggested either to do away with the clause or have a stipulated number of days after which we can take action. The Government has to amend this law to be implemented.” As per the list available with the ACB, 68 corruption cases have been registered against the Revenue Department, which has topped the list of graft cases recorded in the first nine months this year in the State. The Police ranks second in the list with 53 graft charges followed by Municipal Corporation (21), Maharashtra State Electricity Board (20) and Land Records Department (17) respectively.
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