Cuttack: Odisha Vigilance topped among all the States in detection and registration of DA (Disproportionate Assets) cases in the country, as per recently published Crime in India-2022 by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Director Vigilance Yeshwant Kumar Jethwa is regularly monitoring the cases and Odisha Vigilance has registered 85 cases relating to disproportionate assets against corrupt public servants in 2022, while Karnataka and Bihar were ranked second and third by registering 56 and 48 DA cases during the year, the NCRB report stated.
The same year, Odisha registered 118 trap cases and arrested many tainted officers while accepting bribes. The total number of cases registered under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (PC Act) in the State increased from 265 in 2021 to 287 in 2022, the report said.
Similarly, with registration of 84 corruption cases on the allegation of criminal misconduct (misappropriation of government funds), Odisha Vigilance was third among all the States in the country.
In the year 2022, chargesheets were filed in 321 cases which was also third highest in the country.
Sources in the Odisha Vigilance Directorate said that movable and immovable assets of over Rs 174 crore owned by 91 public servants and 56 private people were unearthed during search operations last year.
Registration of DA cases requires painstaking groundwork in collection of relevant information regarding assets and financial transactions of corrupt public servants and indicates the proactive aggressive approach of an anti-corruption agency in combating corruption, an official said.
In October, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had administered the oath of honesty and integrity to government employees to kick-start the vigilance awareness week. Addressing the occasion, the CM had said: “My Government has adopted a zero-tolerance approach to corruption so that public services are made available to the people of the state in a fair and transparent manner.”
As a part of the zero-tolerance approach to corruption, a number of public servants have been dismissed and many have been given premature retirement in suitable cases as a strong deterrent, Patnaik had stated.