Officers to Declare assets of Spouse - AP High Court
Two Senior IPS officers fight each other - High Court orders Contempt against one and enquiry against both
IN a landmark judgement delivered yesterday, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered contempt proceedings against the State DG of Police and held that officers were obliged to declare the assets of their spouses.
In this strange case, the petitioner Umesh Kumar is a very senior IPS officer of the 1977 batch. The main respondent is his batch-mate and the present DGP of Andhra Pradesh, Dinesh Reddy.
They have levelled serious allegations of impropriety and corruption against each other. Each claims that baseless allegations are being levelled against him by the other only to further his own career prospects.
The Charge by the petitioner: Respondent was conducting himself in a manner unbecoming of a member of the service; he was indulging in selective leaks to the press, and was sponsoring public interest litigation against the petitioner; the petitioner's reputation has been sullied by the action of the respondent; purchase and sale of large tracts of land by the respondent's wife; and the respondent's failure to declare these transactions in his annual property returns.
The Respondent retaliates: while holding the post of Additional Director General (P&L), the petitioner was entrusted with the purchase of various material required for the police department worth hundreds of crores. He had indulged in a huge scam. After he joined ACB, the petitioner had destroyed all files pertaining to certain cases; timber scandal when he was DIG Warangal; Telgi Stamps scam in which he was involved; DGP office purchases scam; Illegal promotions of DSPs when he was in the DGP's office; Medal scam; and sale of bullet proof jackets to extremists.
High Court observes: If the allegations and counter allegations levelled by the petitioner and the respondent against each other have any basis it would show that, in their fight to occupy the top post of the Director-General of Police in the State of A.P, both the media and the portals of this court have been used (misused) to eliminate the other from the race, without any regard to the consequences which such allegations may have on the image and credibility of not only the police force but also the institution of the judiciary. That the judicial process was sought to be subverted, in this mindless and selfish pursuit of personal glory, is a matter of serious concern, and may well necessitate a strict threshold scrutiny of the Writ Petitions being instituted before this Court.
High Court on Corruption:
Avarice and insatiable greed is slowly but surely eroding the governance structure in this country. Corruption, unless severely dealt with, will destroy the very fabric of our society. Corruption by public servants has now reached endemic proportions and monstrous dimensions. Its tentacles have started grappling even institutions created for the protection of the republic. Unless those tentacles are intercepted and impeded from gripping the normal and orderly functioning of public offices, through strong legislative, executive as well as judicial exercises, corrupt public servants may well paralyse the functioning of such institutions. Proliferation of corrupt public servants could garner momentum to cripple the social order if such men are allowed to continue to manage and operate public institutions.
Wife's Assets - Should Husband Declare? The High Court questioned, “When members of the State Civil Services; Members of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha; Union Ministers; the Chief Minister and Ministers of the State of Andhra Pradesh; and Judges of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh; are required to disclose the assets of their spouse, is it permissible to construe Rule 16 of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules as enabling members of All India Services alone not to declare details of the assets of their spouse?"
When the spouse is extended, and avails, the benefit of LTC and Medical Reimbursement which a member of the All India Services is entitled to, can he/she avoid the obligation of having to disclose his/her assets on the ground that the assets were acquired from an independent source of income?
This requirement of spousal declaration must be read as obligatory as the spouse is being extended benefits from the public exchequer which he/she would not, otherwise, have been extended, but for being the spouse of the member of the service.
The High Court directed :
1. The Government to enquire into the property transactions of the DGP's wife.
2. The Government to enquire into the allegations against each other.
3. The Registrar General of the High Court to initiate suo-motu criminal contempt proceedings against the DGP.
The enquiry officer shall be an IAS/IPS officer senior to both the petitioner and respondent IPS officers.
Now, which officer would like to enquire against the State DGP and a very senior IPS officer?
Anyway, the State Government does not have much of a choice. According to a Government watcher, there are only two IPS officers senior to these two. One of them will retire this month end and the other has disqualified himself by filing a case against the appointment of Reddy as DGP.
There are three IAS officers senior to them. Two of them will retire by June – and that leaves only one officer qualified to do the job.
We bring you the AP High Court's Order () delivered yesterday.