Maharashtra: No action against 204 officials caught red-handed by ACB

MUMBAI: There are 204 officers in the state government who have been trapped by the ACB while indulging in corrupt acts but shockingly there has been no departmental action of suspension against them yet.
Similarly, as of today, ACB has got 29 of these 204 officers convicted but none of them have been dismissed, showed the data collated by former central information commissioner and RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi from the ACB's own website itself.
In his letter to Upa-Lokayukta Sanjay Bhatia and chief secretary Sitaram Kunte, Gandhi has said that if the above information by the ACB is true, it would mean that the State government or some of its officials were in a conspiracy to encourage and protect against corruption and that these cases need to be taken to their logical end.
Interestingly, the majority of these officers are from Nagpur and Nanded divisions and mostly belong to the state government's rural development, education, and sports, revenue, police, and cooperatives departments (see graphic).
"It appears the law requires action to be taken against such public servants, and the ACB has taken the step of putting this information suo moto on its website. This refusal to take punitive action appears to be an attempt to make ACB toothless," he stated in his letter. He has requested them to inform him about the specific actions taken before 15 August 2021 in this regard.
Meanwhile, IPS officer-turned lawyer Y P Singh said ACB is a caged parrot. "These are all small cases of clerks and peons as in all big cases of civil servants and politicians it has either issued clean cheats or closed cases. It's an uninspiring performance," he added.
Meanwhile chief secretary Kunte did not respond to messages and calls made by TOI to seek his reaction over the status of these cases.
Officials caught red-handed by ACB but not suspended
Rural development: 49
Education and sports: 44
Revenue, Land records: 20
police, prision, homeguards: 17
Cooperatives and marketing: 15
Urban Development (local bodies): 13
Industry & Energy: 12
Health: 10
Divisions that have highest such officers
Nagpur: 55
Nanded: 46
Thane: 27
Amravati: 26
Aurangabad: 19
Officers who have been convicted but not dismissed
Revenue and land records: 5
Rural development: 4
Industry & Energy: 4
Forest: 4
Education & sports: 2
police, prison, homeguards: 2
cooperatives & marketing: 1