Author: Faizan Ahmad
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 22, 2011
URL: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-22/patna/29914484_1_bihar-govt-ias-properties
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's promise
to confiscate ill-gotten properties of officials and to open schools for poor
children in their palatial houses is close to becoming a reality.
With the Patna high court upholding a May
order to confiscate the multi-storied building of suspended IAS officer Shiv
Shankar Verma, decks seem to have been cleared for this purpose. "The
judicial order gives a big boost to Bihar government's war on corruption,"
said JD (U) state spokesman Sanjay Singh.
On July 6, 2007, sleuths of Special Vigilance
Unit raided Verma's houses and found movable and immovable properties, roughly
estimated to be worth Rs 1.43 crore, which were disproportionate to his known
sources of income. Verma, then a secretary in the minor irrigation department,
was suspended.
A vigilance officer said the courts had so
far ordered confiscation of properties in five cases. Three of these orders
were passed in July.
