The Forum for Good Governance has written to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to describe “abnormal delays” in the prosecution of Anti-Corruption Bureau cases and warned that prolonged proceedings and low conviction rates are undermining corruption deterrence in the Telangana administration.
In a statement on December 18, the forum said the ACB had registered 621 cases in the last five years, an average of about 120 cases a year. However, she alleged that once the ACB director general completes investigations and submits reports seeking permission to prosecute accused officials, the secretariat’s decision is often delayed, sometimes by more than a year. The forum claimed that the sanction to prosecute was given in barely a quarter of cases, with the rest sent for investigation at the ministry or the Disciplinary Tribunal, where cases can take decades to conclude.
The forum further pointed out that even after the filing of charges, cases often remain pending in the courts for more than a decade, with only about 20 to 25 cases disposed of each year. Citing data, the ACB said only 19 old cases were disposed of in 2023-24, resulting in nine convictions and 10 acquittals, while a total of 22 cases were disposed of in 2024-25, with 12 convictions and 10 acquittals. Overall, the conviction rate is around 50%, he said.
The forum referred to a case of disproportionate assets registered against motor vehicle inspector B. Bhadra Naik in December 2008. Although the officer was suspended and an inquiry report was submitted seeking the sanction of prosecution, it took 16 months for the government to grant clearance, during which time the officer was reinstated. Charges were filed in 2011, but the case remains pending even after 15 years, the forum said. It added that the officer was subsequently promoted and later caught again allegedly accepting a bribe, leading to a second case that is still under investigation. This, the forum argued, reflected a lack of fear of punishment and pointed to rampant corruption.
Forum president M. Padmanabha Reddy urged the chief minister to issue guidelines to ensure that sanctions are issued within a month of being found, accused police officers are not made public until cases are resolved, trials are completed within two years and the conviction rate is increased from 50% to 90%. The forum said such measures are necessary to restore public confidence and effectively curb corruption in governance.
Published – 18 Dec 2025 19:38 IST
