Central Govt says DA case against Subhash Ahluwalia IAS not made out

Shimla: Vigilance bureau’s attempt to book Subhash Ahluwalia, a senior IAS officer, in a disproportionate asset case fell through on Monday after the government of India counsel let the Himachal Pradesh High Court know that such a case against the officer is not made out.

The court was hearing a petition by convicted drug controlled Sher Singh Thakur about prosecution sanction being granted in a discriminatory manner against officers who had been booked on various offences by the law enforcing agencies.

With the investigating agencies having presented the court with all the cases awaiting prosecution sanction either with the state government and incase of IAS and IPS officers with the central government, the court had directed the concerned authorities to decide the matter within a time frame.

With the case of Subhash Ahluwalia being one of them, the central government counsel put on record before the court on Monday, stating that with no case was made out against him; the state government was duly informed that prosecution sanction was not being granted.

Tight-lipped senior government officers, without wanting to be named confirmed that the union government had conveyed to the state government last week about a disproportionate case against Ahluwhalia not being made out.

Having remained a private secretary to former chief minister Virbhadra Singh between 2330-07, vigilance sleuths in May 2008 had registered a case of disproportionate assets against Ahluwalia and raided his residences in Shimla and Dharmshala.

Investigators had claimed to have stumbled upon Rs 1.34 Cr in the bank accounts of the IAS officer and were said to have unearthed as many as 17 bank accounts owned or co-owned by him. Bank accounts, lockers and computers found at the residence were seized.

When contacted Ahluwalia said, “he was being falsely implicated and the central government after going through the entire case record had not found any disproportionate assets in the case being made out.

Ravinder Makhaik

As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.

In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.