Bureaucrats can’t take people of Punjab for a ride, says Leader of Opposition Bajwa

“Besides, how can the officers get blanket protection against corruption. Did they join the civil services only to protect their corrupt colleagues? Do they have no respect for the law of the land? If they actually feel aggrieved they always have a way of putting up their representation to the state government to which they have a direct access”, said Bajwa.

Bajwa said various High Court judgments – including that of Punjab & Haryana, Delhi and Kerala – have clearly said that for investigating civil officials in a forgery, fraud, misappropriation of funds and cheating cases, there is no need for the investigating agency to take prior sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, which was subsequently amended in 2018.

Bajwa also referred to the official communication of the Haryana chief secretary Sanjiv Kumar Kaushal in July last year in which he had written to all departmental heads of the government there making it amply clear that there was no need to take prior sanction before initiating investigation in cases where officials are caught red-handed while accepting bribe, or when they are involved in forgery and cheating cases.

Bajwa said the Punjab bureaucracy “has not descended from the heavens” and there cannot be different sets of rules for them. “ The whole world knows how corrupt some of the bureaucrats have become over the years and how people have to suffer at their hands to get their most ordinary chores done ‘ ‘, added Bajwa.