Haryana: Facing three probes, IAS officer says free hand to anti-corruption bureau not good for law, order

In a representation sent to Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on January 3 this year, Suresh raised questions on the functioning of the ACB. “Police officers are, by principle, subordinate to administrative officers of various cadres such as IAS/HCS in matters relating to maintenance of law, prosecution under the criminal procedure code, and other related activities. Thus, it becomes pertinent to consider how the administrative officers will be able to control police action in the daily course of duties if the State Vigilance Bureau (now ACB) is given free rein,” Suresh stated in the letter.

The IAS officer proposed that any reports from the ACB “should be routed through the Legal Remembrancer” for due consideration.
“Sufficient evidence should be presented as grounds for proceeding with an investigation or prosecution case. After all, these cases relate to matters concerning public administration and not particularly hard-line criminals. Additionally, any possibility of false reporting from the SVB should be met with an appropriate FIR,” he said in the letter.

The 1995-batch officer stated that India “is not a police state” but a democratic nation “where civilians must enjoy the protection of law and order” as constituted. Therefore, utmost care and precaution must be taken while exercising discretion and allocating authority, he said.
Suresh also sought that an independent committee of three officers of the rank of additional chief secretaries be constituted for a “thorough enquiry into the mala fide and non-transparent functioning” of the vigilance bureau.

He further sought that an FIR be registered “against guilty officers of the vigilance department” for not taking prior approval of the state government before initiating inquiries against him “as is required as per provisions envisaged in section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.” He added that fair and equal treatment of all officers equally in all similarly placed situations will avoid needless resort to litigation.

However, a senior ACB officer recently pointed out that there can’t be two sets of law – one for ordinary citizens and another for IAS officers. “We seek permission to probe the role of an IAS officer only when we get evidence of his or her involvement in a particular case.”

On its part, the state government is examining the assertions of the IAS officer and the ACB before taking a final call on the matter.

Also, in a letter to the chief secretary on March 13 this year, Suresh pointed out that the Chief Minister has only approved a general inquiry into the irregularities “in the office of town and country planning and office of chief administrator, HSVP (Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran) and thus it was in no way a specific approval against me (Suresh)”.

Recently, his wife Kanthi D Suresh — runs a digital sports channel — also approached the Haryana government and alleged that the ACB officials interrogated her accountant Rajender Prasad on April 26 and “threatened him to confess to knowing certain persons”.

The ACB had termed the allegations baseless and claimed the accountant was properly interrogated and joined the investigation after conducting a search exercise.