New Delhi, May 8 – Top bureaucrats are in the firing line of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). At least 12 senior officers are on the list prepared by the agency after a Supreme Court ruling struck down the provision that necessitated government approval to initiate investigations against officers of the rank of joint secretary and above.
Highly placed sources said the list includes a senior IAS officer who is a secretary of a ministry at the Centre and two top officers of a public sector undertaking. Investigations against them will help CBI make headway in the nine-year-old Airbus purchase scam and the more recent National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) case registered in March, allegedly involving officials of the state-owned Metals and Mineral Trading Corporation (MMTC).
After Tuesday’s Supreme Court verdict, the agency is all set to initiate investigations against the officers whose approvals were pending under Section 6 A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act that made it mandatory for the apex investigating agency to get a nod of the minister incharge before probing officers of the level of joint secretary and above.
“We are free to move ahead with the probe now. Cases where approvals were stuck will be expedited now. If needed, the officers accused will be called for questioning and necessary action will be taken,” said a senior CBI officer.
The secretary-level officer on the CBI list is likely to be probed for his alleged role in the Airbus purchase scam. The officer had served as a top official in the erstwhile Indian Airlines and as additional secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Other officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry were also to be probed, but as the government did not give a go-ahead the officials could not be prosecuted for the alleged scam of over Rs.8,000 crore in the purchase of 43 aircraft in 2005.
In a more recent case registered by the CBI in March against NSEL causing a loss of Rs.120 crore to the exchequer, the top investigating agency wants to probe two top MMTC officials. Sources said two directors of the firm are under the scanner. About Rs.343 crore of MMTC are said to be stuck with NSEL.
In another corruption case, the CBI is now likely to close in on an inspector general (IG) of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) whose approval under the DSPE Act was pending since January, last year.
Sources said other officers whose approvals were pending and can now be investigated by the CBI are working under the ministries of home, railways, commerce and health. While the CBI is working to build cases against these officers, the top brass of the agency had a brain-storming session on Wednesday to have a mechanism in place to ensure that no officer is harassed and decisions to initiate probes are taken after due diligence.
-INDIA TODAY
