RANCHI: Amid crackdown by the ED on politicians and government officials, the Jharkhand cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal under which state government officials will not directly appear before any investigating agency from outside the state. They will first inform the Cabinet Coordination and Vigilance Department through their department heads, which will suggest him or her about their further plan of action after taking legal advice from experts.
The decision is considered to be important given the fact that several government officials including, IAS officers, have been summoned by the ED, who have no other choice but to appear before the investigating agency.
The state government believes that if its officials go directly to the investigating agencies without putting it into the notice of their department heads, there are possibilities that the information or the documents being made available by the official may be incomplete or irrelevant. If it happens, it might put adverse effect on the ongoing probe by the probe agency from outside the state and the activities of the state government as well.
“Therefore, in order to extend desired cooperation and make relevant information, files or documents available to the investigating agencies, a clear and well defined procedure needs to be determined in the state,” stated the proposal put before the Cabinet. In case the officials recieve any summon or notice from a probe agency from outside the state, they will immediately inform their department head, who will forward it to the Cabinet Coordination and Vigilance Department, it said.
“The Cabinet Coordination and Vigilance Department, which is the nodal agency, will then seek legal advice from the experts and inform the officials who will further act as per the advice given by the nodal agency,” stated the proposal.
ED is probing two major cases of money laundering in Jharkhand. The first case is related to illegal mining in Sahibganj in which the CM was questioned on November 17 last year. While, the second case is related to alleged land scam in the state capital for which Soren has been issued summons twice by the ED. Sahibganj Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ramniwas Yadav, whose official and private premises in Rajasthan was raided recently in the illegal mining scam, happens to be the third IAS officer to face the ED knocks.
ED probing two cases
ED is probing two major cases of money laundering in Jharkhand. The first case is related to illegal mining in Sahibganj in which the CM was questioned on November 17 last year. The second is linked to land scam in state capital for which Soren was summoned twice by the ED.