Hyderabad High Court : How can absent staff be allowed to retain job?

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday wondered how the AP government allowed a deputy engineer to continue in his job when he was absent without permission for eight years, and then decided to withdraw a case filed against him by the anti-corruption bureau.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice G. Shyam Prasad was dealing with a petition by K. Mohan Reddy, a resident of Nellore district, challenging the action of the AP government in allowing B. Maddileti, deputy executive engineer of the Handri Neeva Project, in the Irrigation department, to continue working despite his long absence and then issuing a government order withdrawing an ACB case against him.

The petitioner told the court that in March 2016, the ACB authorities raided the house of the deputy engineer and found that he had amassed '6 crore worth properties disproportionate to his income.

The state government had issued a GO to attach the properties of Mr Baddiletti, but suddenly, on August 18, 2016, it issued another GO withdrawing the case against the engineer.

When the bench sought a response from the government, the counsel for the ACB told the court that during the inquiry it was found that Mr Maddileti had acquired the assets through real estate business and the government has decided to initiate departmental action against him by withdrawing the ACB case.

The bench then enquired how the government had allowed Mr Maddileti to engage in real estate business by absconding from duty for eight years, and how he was taken back without any action.