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Centre clears prosecution of former Punjab chief secy Janjua in 2009 graft case
Move against 1988-batch IAS officer, who heads state transparency commission, comes three months after high court rap to Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government.
The Union Government has granted prosecution sanction against former Punjab chief secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua, a 1989-batch IAS officer, in a 16-year-old corruption case.
The decision by the ministry of personnel on February 11 came just three months after the Punjab government, prompted by a stern high court directive, forwarded the case to the Centre.
The Centre’s order, a copy of which is with Hindustan Times, states: “The competent authority... considered that sufficient evidence has been brought on record to establish a prima-facie case for granting sanction under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.”
Janjua served as the state’s top bureaucrat for a year in 2022. While he is not the first Punjab chief secretary to face corruption allegations, he rose to the top post despite a pending vigilance case.
Janjua, who retired in 2023, was appointed as the chairman of the Punjab Transparency and Accountability Commission by the AAP government, which eventually forwarded his prosecution file following judicial pressure.
“This court cannot shut its eyes to the serious allegations against the petitioner. If this court allows the matter to be closed or brushed under the carpet at this stage, it would be failing in its duty to ensure that justice is not only done but seems to be done in cases involving corruption by high government functionaries,” the bench of justice Anupinder Singh Grewal had observed while disposing of the plea that revived the case.
The case dates back to November 9, 2009, when the Punjab Vigilance Bureau caught Janjua, then director of industries and commerce, allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹2 lakh from Ludhiana-based industrialist Tulsi Ram Mishra.
The road to prosecution has been a legal see-saw. While then Punjab governor Shivraj Patil initially granted sanction in 2010, a trial court later discharged Janjua, ruling that the Centre, not the state, was the competent authority to sanction the prosecution of an IAS officer. A subsequent request to the Centre in 2014 was inexplicably withdrawn by the then Congress government in Punjab in March 2018.
The tide turned in 2025 when the Punjab and Haryana high court imposed a penalty of ₹50,000 on the state for failing to submit the case to the Centre. Following this, the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government moved the file to the Union government on November 28, 2025.
Case Timeline
The case against VK Janjua has seen multiple governments, court interventions, and a period where he rose to the state’s most powerful bureaucratic post despite pending graft allegations.
November 9, 2009: Janjua, then director of industries and commerce, is arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹2 lakh from industrialist Tulsi Ram Mishra.
April 2010: Then Punjab governor Shivraj Patil grants prosecution sanction; a challan is filed in the trial court.
July 2014: After Janjua seeks discharge on the grounds that only the Centre can sanction his prosecution, the Punjab government writes to the Union government to accord the same.
April 2016: Complainant Mishra moves the high court after a trial court discharges Janjua, citing technical grounds regarding the sanctioning authority.
March 26, 2018: In a surprise move, the Punjab government (then under the Congress) withdrew the request for prosecution sanction from the Centre.
July 2022: Despite the ongoing legal case, Janjua appointed Punjab chief secretary by the AAP government.
July 2023: Janjua retires and is subsequently appointed as Punjab Transparency and Accountability Commission chairman by AAP govt.
November 2025: The Punjab and Haryana high court imposes a ₹50,000 penalty on state government for its lackadaisical approach and directs it to send the case to the Centre within a month.
February 11, 2026: The Union ministry of personnel grants final prosecution sanction, clearing the way for a criminal trial.
