7 IAS officers arrested for graft in 3 years: Minister tells Parliament

Seven Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers were arrested for corruption in the last three years and a total of 340 non-performing government officers were prematurely retired by the government in the past six years, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh informed the Parliament on Thursday (February 11).

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Singh said, “As per information received from 27 state governments/Union Territories, seven officers belonging to Indian Administrative Service have been arrested for corruption during the last three years.”

According to information received from the Ministry of Home Affairs, one Indian Police Service (IPS) officer serving under the Uttar Pradesh government was found involved in a criminal case during the period from September 2020 till date, Singh said.

“The said IPS officer has been placed under suspension and disciplinary proceedings have also been initiated against him by the state government,” he added.

With regard to non-performing officers who were prematurely retired by the government in the past six years, Singh said, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, “As per the information/data provided by different ministries/ departments/cadre controlling authorities, provisions of FR 56(J)/similar rules have been invoked against 171 Group A central government officers, including All India Services officers, and 169 Group B officers of different ministries/departments during the period from July 2014 to December 2020.”

Also read: Over 220 corrupt employees, including 96 senior officials, given premature retirement: Govt

The rules have provisions to retire a government employee in public interest, prematurely for being allegedly corrupt and non-performing, among others.

As on March 1, 2018, the sanctioned strength of civilian regular employees under the central government is 38,02,779 and 31,18,956 employees are in position, he said.

“Vacancies in the central government are caused due to retirement, resignation, death, promotion, and the posts falling vacant are required to be filled as per the recruitment rules by the concerned ministries/departments/organisation,” Singh said.