MVI gives ACB the slip

Hyderabad, Dec. 12: The Anti-Corruption Bureau has decided to alert registration authorities not to entertain any transaction pertaining to the assets of Solipuram Narayana Reddy, the motor vehicle inspector (MVI), who is facing graft charges. The ACB will also inform the stamps and registration department and the collectors of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. "The agency will inform the authorities and give them the property details with survey numbers," sources said.

Though the transport department initially permitted the ACB to initiate the process of attaching the Narayana Reddy’s properties worth Rs 1.53 crore, the latter managed to stall the process. Based on the instructions from Chief Minister’s office, the transport department kept the orders in abeyance. The ACB officials have been trying to get permission in Narayana Reddy’s case from the transport department for more than one-and-a-half years.

"The ACB wrote a letter seeking permission way back on July 31, 2007. But the official facing graft charges managed to keep the issue under carpet," sources added. Transport officials were hand-in-glove with Narayana Reddy that they uploaded on the official website only the abstract of the second order (GO Ms No. 340) and kept mum on the earlier order.

After the government made it mandatory for all the departments to host the GOs on the official site, the many department officials keep these GOs under the "confidential" category.But in case of GO Ms No. 340, the transport department chose to give the abstract, which only indicated that the previous order was kept in abeyance. The operative portion explaining the circumstances that led to the issue of second order is missing on the website.