Hence, the ACC, according to the draft bill, will be empowered to book a government staff without permission from the authorities concerned, even before charges against the accused are framed.
The draft act, however, says that law enforcers will not be permitted to directly arrest any government official or employee accused of negligence in duty, graft or wrongdoing at work, or sued in a criminal case until a charge-sheet against him or her is accepted at court.
In these cases, an arrest will be followed by permission from authorities concerned and that too just for interrogation.
But, there will be no bar to arresting the accused if a court accepts charge-sheet against them.
The government will not back any of its officials or employees up if they are sued over personal dispute or other criminal charges not relating to their job, the draft act adds. In such cases, the law enforcers will not need any prior permission from the administration to arrest the accused.
On July 13, 2015 another draft of the bill was placed before the cabinet without the provision of the government staff being arrested, even by the ACC before the accused are indicted.
The draft bill prepared by public administration ministry is likely to be tabled in a meeting of the cabinet for its approval today.
When contacted, a senior official of the ministry said that the previous draft bill had some confusions in it over the issue on arresting civil servants, which the new draft act will clarify.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
