Centre vs states: Don’t deal directly with central agencies, Jharkhand officers told
The Jharkhand government has said it is streamlining the process to ensure incomplete information is not handed over to the central agencies
In a move that could escalate tensions with the Centre, the Jharkhand government has told its officials not to share documents with or answer questions from Central agencies directly. Government departments in the state have been told to report all queries from central agencies to the Cabinet Secretariat or the Vigilance Department for processing.
Official circular
The Jharkhand government has said it is streamlining the process to ensure incomplete information is not handed over to agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and the income tax department.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha runs a coalition government in the state with the Congress.
Direct contacts
In a letter written to all departments on Tuesday, the principal secretary to the chief minister, Vandana Dadel, said officials should not respond directly to notices and requests for documents related to any investigation by central agencies. Instead, they must inform the cabinet secretariat and the vigilance department.
The letter said the central investigating agencies have been sending notices to officials and calling them for questioning without writing to the competent authority of the state government.
Causing confusion
In many cases, officials would get involved in the investigation and hand over government documents to the central agencies without alerting the senior officers.
Dadel said the information thus provided was likely to be incomplete or inaccurate, leading to confusion and adversely affecting both the state government and the central investigating agencies.
Nodal wing
She said the cabinet secretariat and the vigilance department would be the nodal department for sharing information with the central agencies to avoid confusion.
The Enforcement Directorate has issued seven summons to chief minister Hemant Soren in a money laundering case linked to allegations of corruption and illegal change of land ownership by the mafia.
ED notices
According to PTI, the ED has also summoned Soren's press adviser Abhishek Prasad and Sahibganj Deputy Commissioner Ram Niwas Yadav for questioning in another money laundering case.
The investigating agency had earlier raided their premises and those of Sahibganj Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajendra Dubey on January 3. The action was linked to illegal stone mining prevalent in Sahibganj.