AP govt feigns ignorance over IAS officer's arrest

The Andhra Pradesh government, in an effort to appease the IAS lobby rattled by a series of arrests in the OMC mining and Emaar properties cases, has told the Union government that it doesn’t know why former secretary of industries Y Srilakshmi was arrested.

Y Srilakshmi was arrested for granting licence to Gali Janardhana Reddy for mining iron ore. She is at present lodged in the woman’s wing of Chanchalguda Jail.

According to section 197 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, public servants and judicial officials could be tried only after the government gives permission. In the case of All India Service officials, the permission of the Centre is required.

Investigation agencies should seek permission of the state government for the prosecution of government officials. The state government should approve the proposal and send it to the Union government, which in turn in has to approve the prosecution within 90 days. According to a recent Supreme Court judgment, government approval of the prosecution of officials within four months is necessary.

According to reports, the CBI, instead of seeking the permission of the state government and through it that of the union government, sent a letter directly to the Central government asking permission for prosecution of Sri Lakshmi. The Centre which responded a month after receiving the letter, has asked the state government whether it gave the permission for the prosecution of the IAS officer in question.

But, the state government has a peculiar reply to this query. It has informed the Union government that is has no information on why Sri Lakshmi was arrested by the CBI in the first place.