FGG Flags ACB Prosecution Delays, Seeks CM Intervention

President of the Forum for Good Governance (FGG) M Padmanabha Reddy has written to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy highlighting abnormal delays in prosecuting Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) cases and a poor conviction rate, and warned the CM that the situation was weakening deterrence against corruption in Telangana's administration.

In his letter, Padmanabha Reddy mentioned that during the last five years the ACB had registered 621 cases - about 120 annually - but that prosecution permissions from the Secretariat were hard to come by. The process itself often took more than a year, and even after that only around 25% of the cases received sanction for prosecution, while the rest were diverted to departmental inquiries or the Tribunal for Disciplinary Proceedings, where cases remained pending for decades, he said.

The FGG president said that even in the few cases where prosecution was approved and charge sheets were filed, cases took over a decade for disposal in courts, with only 20 to 25 cases being concluded annually, and the conviction rate remaining just 50%.

In 2023-24 nine out of 19 disposed cases resulted in convictions, while in 2024-25 12 convictions were recorded out of 22 cases, he added.

Highlighting a glaring example, he referred to a disproportionate assets case registered in 2008 against a Motor Vehicle Inspector, where prosecution permission took 16 months and the case remained pending even after 15 years. The officer was reinstated, promoted, and later caught again in a fresh bribery case, underscoring what the FGG termed an absence of fear of punishment.

The FGG said that such delays were encouraging rampant corruption, and urged the Chief Minister to issue clear instructions for systemic reforms.

The key suggestions made by the FGG included granting prosecution permission within one month of an ACB request; denying postings to accused officials until cases were disposed of; ensuring disposal of corruption cases within two years; and improving the conviction rate from 50% to 90%.

The Forum appealed to the Chief Minister to take these urgent steps to strengthen accountability and restore public confidence in governance.