Nearly two months into its creation, the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) may take some more time to start full-fledged work.
A senior official of the ACB said that it will take more time for the district ACBs to be fully operational. The ACB has registered four cases till Wednesday, all trap cases.
“We had set ourselves a three-month timeframe to make it fully operational from the day it was constituted,” an official said.
“In Bengaluru city, the ACB is fully operational and there is not much shortage of staff. We have been studying the ACBs in other states and also the manual of Central Investigation Bureau. The ACB manual is in the final stages of completion,” the official said.
The ACB presently has DySPs in 16 districts and each district has a police inspector, except in Uttara Kannada and Kodagu. In Bengaluru, the bureau has four SPs, one each for Bengaluru city and rural and one each for administration and headquarters. Sources said preliminary enquiry is still underway in complaints filed against bureaucrats and politicians with the ACB.
“In the last one month, we have conducted training for our police officials. Senior police officials from CBI and officials who have undergone training in Lokayukta police were invited to address our officials. We will send our officials to Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh for specialised training,” the official said.
The ACB has written to the government not to transfer cases from the Lokayukta police to ACB.
“The High Court has stayed the transfer of cases. There are around 750 cases at various stages with the Lokayukta police. Since ACB is starting from scratch, it will not be possible for us to take up all cases being handled by the Lokayukta police,” the official said.
The ACB will request the government to meet certain immediate requirements, including appointment of legal advisors and public prosecutors. Since ACB is a specialised bureau to handle cases under Prevention of Corruption Act, it will need prosecutors in four special Lokayukta courts.
“There is only one special public prosecutor who represents Lokayukta police in one of the Lokayukta courts. In other courts, there are no full-time prosecutors,” an official said.