Bhopal: Armed with sweeping powersunder its new anticorruption law, one of the first actions the BJP governmentin MadhyaPradesh may consider under the MP Special Courts Act is to seize the alleged “ill-gotten wealth” of the tainted IAS couple, ArvindJoshi andTinuJoshi.
Sources said their property, reportedly worthhundreds of crores, may be used for a high-visibility public cause, so as to send around the message that the government meansbusiness.
“Yes, attaching the wealth of IAS couple could be the first test case under the new Act, since confiscation of property involves a legal procedure. There is a perception within the government that such a strong first step, that too against two top babus, under the new anti-graft Act could signal a genuine determination to fight corruption,” sources close to the state’s political leadership said. In February 2010, the IT departmenthad raidedtheofficial residence of then Principal Secretary (Jails) Arvind Joshi and his wife Tinu, who too was Principal Secretary (Women and child welfare). The raids on the two 1979 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre officers had yielded over Rs 3 crore in cash, documents showing that the Joshis owned no less than 25 residential flats and 400 acres of land, besidesstakesin many business ventures apart from investments in the stock exchange worth crores. Subsequently, the IT department asked the IAS couple to cough up Rs 135 crore astax.
As the departmental inquiry against the suspended IAS coupleisstilldragging on with a former retired Chief Secretary, Mrs Nirmala Buch, heading the probe, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has been drawing flak from many quarters, including the opposition parties, for catching only the smallfry.
New anti-graft courts to start from Feb 15
The government has begun the motions for setting up the first four special anti-graft courts at Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur—under the provisions of new anti-corruption law—by February 15 for expeditious trial of corruption cases. The decision was taken at a meeting held at chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s residence on Saturday morning, a day after the state notified the MP Special Courts Act following Presidential assent to the relevant bill on Wednesday.
Sources said their property, reportedly worthhundreds of crores, may be used for a high-visibility public cause, so as to send around the message that the government meansbusiness.
“Yes, attaching the wealth of IAS couple could be the first test case under the new Act, since confiscation of property involves a legal procedure. There is a perception within the government that such a strong first step, that too against two top babus, under the new anti-graft Act could signal a genuine determination to fight corruption,” sources close to the state’s political leadership said. In February 2010, the IT departmenthad raidedtheofficial residence of then Principal Secretary (Jails) Arvind Joshi and his wife Tinu, who too was Principal Secretary (Women and child welfare). The raids on the two 1979 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre officers had yielded over Rs 3 crore in cash, documents showing that the Joshis owned no less than 25 residential flats and 400 acres of land, besidesstakesin many business ventures apart from investments in the stock exchange worth crores. Subsequently, the IT department asked the IAS couple to cough up Rs 135 crore astax.
As the departmental inquiry against the suspended IAS coupleisstilldragging on with a former retired Chief Secretary, Mrs Nirmala Buch, heading the probe, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has been drawing flak from many quarters, including the opposition parties, for catching only the smallfry.
New anti-graft courts to start from Feb 15
The government has begun the motions for setting up the first four special anti-graft courts at Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur—under the provisions of new anti-corruption law—by February 15 for expeditious trial of corruption cases. The decision was taken at a meeting held at chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s residence on Saturday morning, a day after the state notified the MP Special Courts Act following Presidential assent to the relevant bill on Wednesday.
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