Bhubaneswar: A total of 6,817 corruption cases against state government officials are pending trials in various courts of the state, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told Assembly Monday.
The Chief Minister said this in reply to a question raised by BJD’s Sudhir Kumar Samal in the Assembly.
The vigilance wing of the state government has registered cases against 895 Group-A officers, 798 Group-B officers, 3,535 Group-C officers, 193 Group-D officers and 1,396 public servants for their involvement in corrupt practices, the Chief Minister said. The state government has appointed prosecution liaison officers at vigilance courts to expedite the cases and SPs of various vigilance divisions are holding regular meetings with special judges of the vigilance courts to ensure speedy trial, he added.
The state recorded the second highest number of cases relating to corruption in government offices in the country in 2017, according to the latest national crime records bureau (NCRB) data. While Maharashtra topped the list with registration of 925 corruption cases in 2017, Odisha registered 494 of such cases.
After assuming charge for the fifth term, the Naveen Patnaik-led government has started taking action against officials who have been found guilty in corruption charged by courts. The government has either dismissed them or stopped pension of over 50 public servants for their corruption practices.