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Journalism of Courage
The Madhya Pradesh government has finally decided to initiate the procedure to seize assets of tainted IAS couple Arvind Joshi and his wife Tinu Joshi.
An empowered committee on Friday cleared the proposal to seek seizure of assets worth Rs 22 crore owned by the 1979 batch officers,who are under suspension since February 2010.
The senior bureaucrats had been found to possess disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 49 crore by the Special Police Establishment,which is under the Lokayukta,but the couple had already spent nearly Rs 27 crore,which cant be recovered.
The Income-Tax authorities had raided the couples official bungalow in Bhopal on February 4,2010,and the SPE took similar action later.
While the I-T department had assessed the couples worth to be much more,the SPEs figure was much lower at Rs 43 crore. The proposed seizure of Joshi couples properties will be the first such action by the MP government,which is often accused of cracking the whip only against junior level employees.
The government will issue a notification identifying the tainted properties and the matter will be put up before the designated judge under the Special Courts Act.
While the government has given a green signal for the seizure of properties,its still sitting over the Lokayuktas proposal to prosecute the couple for possessing disproportionate assets.
DIG Ashok Awasthi told The Indian Express that several reminders had been sent over the last few months but the agency was yet to hear from the government.
The sanction will eventually be granted by the Centre but the state government is yet to forward the request.
