Haryana government denies nod to probe 4 IAS officers over Faridabad municipal corporation ‘irregularities’

The four IAS officers—Yash Garg, Sonal Goyal, Mohammad Shayin and Anita Yadav—had earlier served as commissioners of the MCF. Of the five FIRs, the anti-corruption bureau had sought permission to probe Garg’s role in four FIRs, while the roles of Goyal and Shayin were to be investigated in connection with three FIRs. Yadav’s role was to be examined in one FIR.

Among these FIRs, only one IAS officer was named as an accused in a case registered in September 2023. In addition to the IAS officer, 11 individuals—including officials from the engineering wing and a contractor—were also named in the FIR. The works in question included the installation of iron grills on a road, where the MCF allegedly split the project into six parts to keep each tender below ₹1 crore, thereby avoiding the need for approval from the urban local bodies department in Chandigarh. In this FIR, the bureau alleged that MCF officials had misused their financial authority to grant undue benefits to themselves and the contractor, causing a loss of ₹4.93 crore to the Corporation and the state government.

In another FIR lodged in June 2022, the bureau alleged corruption in the payment of ₹183.83 crore by the MCF to a contractor and his firms between 2015 and 2020. During its inquiry, the bureau also examined civil works related to the laying of interlocking tiles, the repair of drains, and the construction of culverts.

A senior officer told The Indian Express that despite the government’s latest decision, the bureau can still investigate the role of one or more IAS officers in at least three FIRs, while permission to probe the role of all IAS officers has been denied in two FIRs.

Recently, the Haryana government had denied permission to prosecute IAS officer Jaibir Singh Arya, who was arrested in an alleged bribery case in 2023, stating that the bureau had not sought the requisite prior approval to initiate action against him.