State cabinet of Odisha has approved a proposal which now makes submission of property details by elected representatives and government employees annually mandatory. As per CM, tstate's ongoing fight against corruption has brought laurels to Odisha from all over India. According to the proposal, property details of BJD ministers, MLAs, MPs, chairpersons of panchayat samitis, zilla parishad presidents and sarpanches would be available in the public domain. Patnaik’s announcement comes in the wake of arrest of corrupt IFS officer Abhay Kant Pathak.
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Abhay Kant Pathak served as Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Planning, Program and Afforestation before his arrest on 27 November, 2020. He got accused of misappropriating more than Rs 9 crore. It is alleged that Pathak was depositing cash of his undisclosed assets in the bank accounts of his son Aakash Pathak.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had recommended to the Central Government for compulsory retirement of the corrupt IFS officer. Making this recommendation, Chief Minister Patnaik had written a letter to the central government. In his letter, CM Naveen had written that this is the first time that an IFS officer has been recommended for compulsory retirement by the Government of Odisha on the grounds of corruption.
The Odisha Vigilance team had conducted raids on 25 and 26 November simultaneously in Mumbai and Pune, Bhubaneswar, Bihar. For this a search warrant was issued by the Special Judge, Court of Vigilance in Bhubaneswar. Preliminary investigations showed the vigilance department that the 1987 batch IFS officer had disproportionate assets worth Rs 9.35 crore, which was about 435% more than the total income from all his known sources.
(This is a Breaking Story)