Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said that the state government is determined to combat the menace of corruption but what is proving to be a hurdle in seizing unaccounted wealth is the delay in receiving the President’s assent for the special courts’ bill, which was passed by the Madhya Pradesh Assembly and sent to the Union home ministry in April 2011.
After forwarding Madhya Pradesh Vishesh Nyayalaya Vidheyak 2011 (special bill for setting up special courts to combat corruption) to the Centre, the chief minister said that he has called on President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P. Chidambaram to push forward the state Ggovernment’s case for an early assent. He told journalists that there was a small query from the Centre in this regard and it has been long since the state government sent a reply.
Asked why the lokayukta has been raiding small officers and not conducting any search and seizure operation to catch the corrupt in high places, the chief minister said that raids are conducted only on the basis of firm information and preliminary investigations. Commenting on 17 raids conducted by the lokayukta since December 10, 2011, the CM said that the property has been acquired by these officers over the last several years and is not a recent development.