The Bihar Special Court Bill, 2009 was moved by Brijendra Prasad Yadav for approval and was adopted by voice vote.
The Bihar Assembly on Tuesday, passed a bill aimed at nailing corrupt government officials, both serving and retired, by impounding their ill-gotten wealth.
The Bihar Special Court Bill, 2009 was moved by Brijendra Prasad Yadav for approval and was adopted by voice vote after rejecting the cut motions of Independent MLAs Pradeep Joshi and Kishore Kumar Munna.
Replying to the debate in the house, chief minister Nitish Kumar said the NDA government had launched a war against corruption and hoped that the Centre would not create roadblocks in sanctioning the bill as it was a central one.
Special courts would be set up for speedy trial of corrupt government officials, both serving and those who had retired and would have the power to confiscate assets disproportionate to the known sources of income of those found guilty.
The cases would be decided within a month's time and in the event of the court giving reprieve to the accused, the case would be settled within six months, he said.
Kumar said the special courts to hear the corruption cases would be constituted in consultation with the Patna High court and a special judge of the rank of district judge or additional district judge would head the special court.
The government has also announced cash awards to the people whose information would enable the state police and vigilance department to apprehend the corrupt officials.
In case the government gains monetary benefit from the property seized on the basis of information furnished by an individual, it would give two per cent of the total value of the asset seized as award money.
In case the person whose property is impounded wins the corruption case his/her property would be returned after paying five per cent interest for the period the property was seized.
Kumar said during the past three and half years of NDA rule in Bihar more than 300 corrupt government officials including a district magistrate, a former director general of police, civil surgeons and a number of engineers were arrested by the state Vigilance Bureau as against only 59 arrests made during the erstwhile RJD regime.
The House also passed by voice vote the Bihar Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill, 2009 and Bihar Cooperative Society (Amendment) Bill, 2009.
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