Soon, common man can seek corrupt IAS officers’ prosecution

New Delhi: In a first, the Centre has decided to empower the common man to seek prosecution of corrupt IAS officers. The move comes after the Supreme Court said in a judgment (Subramanian Swamy versus former PM Manmohan Singh and others) that there was no legal provision that barred a citizen from filing a complaint for the prosecution of a public servant who allegedly committed an offence. Following this verdict, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is in receipt of requests from private persons seeking sanction for prosecution of IAS officers without any proper proposal and supporting documents. Now, it has been decided to streamline the procedure for handling such requests received from private persons, the DoPT said in draft guidelines issued on Thursday. A proposal from a private individual seeking sanction for the prosecution of an IAS officer serving in the state government may be routed through the state government concerned. pti