The Forum for Good Governance has urged Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to ensure speedy action on cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), stating that delays and withdrawal of such cases are undermining the credibility of the state’s efforts to check corruption.
In a letter dated August 23, the forum said pending cases and denial of prosecution permissions are “sending wrong signal to government employees”. The letter pointed out several long-pending cases involving revenue and registration officials, citing an RTI response from the Revenue Department, Telangana State Secretariat.
In one instance from 2010, Deputy Collector Satyanarayana and his Senior Assistant Mohan Rao were trapped by the ACB while taking a bribe. While the government permitted the prosecution of Rao, it refused permission in Satyanarayana’s case, and even after 14 years the matter remains unresolved.
Another case highlighted was that of Ramu Naik, Deputy Collector in the Civil Supplies Department, who was caught accepting a bribe and was found in possession of disproportionate assets, prompting two separate cases in 2014. Despite the ACB’s recommendation for prosecution, permission was not granted and the matter was referred to the Commissioner of Inquiries, where it is still pending.
The forum also cited the case of Joint Sub-Registrar S. Sahadev, trapped in 2011, where prosecution was denied and a departmental inquiry ordered in 2014, which has not yet started. Similarly, Sub-Registrar Y. Vanaja Kumari, who was trapped in 2013, faced no further action after the government chose to drop the case.
Forum for Good Governance President M. Padmanabha Reddy said that many trap and disproportionate assets cases were being stalled at the Secretariat level, either by delaying prosecution permissions or diverting them into departmental inquiries. He noted that such an approach weakened the deterrent value of the ACB’s work.
“Unless the accused are punished there is no value to the cases registered by ACB. People are loosing confidence in the Government in controlling corruption,” the letter read. The forum requested the CM to issue clear directions for the disposal of corruption cases.
Published – August 23, 2025 07:16 PM is
