Maharashtra plans law to seize assets of corrupt govt officials

The Maharashtra govt is thinking to bring in a legislation where the assets of corrupt govt officials will be seized.

Mumbai: The death warrant of 1993 serial blasts convict Yakub Memon was executed after completing necessary judicial procedures and he had exhausted all available legal and constitutional remedies, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Assembly on Thursday. He was talking on a question asked by NCP MLC Prakash Binsale.

Taking cue from other states, the Maharashtra government has decided to enact a law that will empower it to seize properties of those government officials who have been accused of corruption and against whom cases are pending in courts. While responding to another query, Fadnavis said only certain government officials were earlier required to declare their properties but the new government has issued a government resolution, where it has been made compulsory for all government officials, including those working at local levels like Zilla Parishads and Municipal corporations to declare their properties.

Currently, the ACB first conducts an open inquiry on officials and government employees. The discussion arose as members of the Legislative Council expressed concerns over the large-scale corruption among the government officials.

Fadnavis added that there had been a 6 per cent increase in the number of trap cases by the ACB in 2015 as compared to 2014 for the same period of time, because it has become easier for people to register complaints against officials. The US company yesterday announced an investment of Dollars 1 billion (Rs 6,400 crore) to change its fortunes in India. In at least 250 such cases involving government officials, permission for recovery of assets to compensate for loss to the public exchequer is pending.