CHANDIGARH – The Punjab Vigilance Bureau has uncovered an ingenious ploy by several senior state government officers who have subverted service and immigration rules to invest their undisclosed wealth in properties abroad and funnel the funds back to India via the NRI route.
Vigilance Bureau sources said they have registered six FIRs against some Class-I officers. Bureau sources said the department would begin inquiries into hundreds of such cases once they receive the go-ahead from the higher-ups.
“The family members of such suspect officers maintain NRI accounts that are flush with remittances from abroad. These came to light when the bureau was investigating cases of disproportionate assets against officers of the Punjab Mandi Board and the Department of irrigation,” a state Vigilance source said.
Over the past several months, the bureau through Vigilance Department has written to various state government wings asking for information in such cases, but its attempts have so far been “stonewalled.”
Investigations by The Tribune reveal that as many as 919 officers/employees have had prolonged stay abroad in violation of civil services conduct rules. Sources, however, say the number of such suspect senior officers could be as high as 2,000, who include IAS, IPS, PPS and PCS officers. They and their families are regular visitors to India from various countries such as Canada, the UK, the US and Australia.
Sources said the most common tool of service rule misuse is through availing of a five-year leave for self-employment. The Punjab Government in 2002 had allowed such a leave, but not for immigration purpose for self-employment. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has clearly warned that no officer should apply or seek immigration to any country as long he is in government service. “Therefore, the question of issuing an NOC to a government employee who wishes to migrate abroad does not arise,’ says a DoPT letter dated March 1, 2006. Most such employees belong to the education, health and agriculture departments. The Education and PAU alone account for 386 such cases, according to the documents in possession of The Tribune.
