Haryana’s Most Corrupt: State Lists 140 “Corrupt” Officers; What It Reveals and Omits
Haryana’s Most Corrupt: Haryana SV&ACB’s list of 140 habitual corrupt officers builds on a January 2026 zero-tolerance push — but past arrest data raises questions about whether senior officials will really be targeted.
North Desk Correspondent
Chandigarh, July 23
The Haryana State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) has compiled a list of 140 officers and employees across the state who face repeated complaints of demanding bribes to perform their duties, Bureau Chief Arshinder Singh Chawla announced.
It’s being seen as a move that formalises an anti-corruption push the government has been building toward for months, but one that also leaves the most consequential questions unanswered: who exactly is on it, and will the public ever see it.
Chairing a review meeting with Superintendents of Police and staff from all ranges at Bureau Headquarters in Panchkula, Chawla said the list was compiled in an “impartial and transparent manner” and was meant not to target individuals but to give citizens relief from corrupt practices. He directed range officers to add further names within a week; it means the list, already at 140, is designed to keep growing rather than stand as a final tally.
Haryana’s Most Corrupt: A list six months in the making
This isn’t a sudden announcement. As early as mid-January 2026, reports indicated the Bureau was compiling a list of officers and employees suspected of demanding bribes, acting on Chief Minister Nayab Saini’s zero-tolerance direction on corruption in government offices.
At that stage, sources also said a separate list specifically targeting corrupt patwaris had already been prepared, and the plan was to eventually submit verified names to the state government while also flagging honest officers for protection and recognition. Wednesday’s announcement is effectively that January groundwork reaching a formal, numbered milestone.
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The enforcement record behind the list
Haryana’s Most Corrupt: Chawla tied the list to the Bureau’s broader trap operation record: 92 successful trap or raid operations between January 2022 and June 2026, netting officers caught accepting bribes across departments. That pace has been accelerating.
A separate Bureau tally from mid-July showed the SV&ACB had registered 101 trap cases in just 195 days this year, involving five gazetted officers, 83 non-gazetted officials and 18 private individuals — its fastest pace to reach 100 traps in six years, compared to 240 days in 2025, 330 days in 2024, 199 days in 2023 and 235 days in 2022.
Chawla has previously said the Bureau introduced cash incentives for complainants and began using spy cameras during operations to sustain that pace.
The rank question the announcement doesn’t answer
Haryana’s Most Corrupt: Chawla insisted Wednesday that “no consideration” would be given to an accused official’s rank, position, influence, or social standing. But the Bureau’s own past disclosures complicate that claim. Historical breakdowns of Haryana vigilance arrests have shown the numbers are overwhelmingly weighted toward junior staff: in one six-month period, nearly half of all officials arrested for corruption belonged to the police and revenue departments, with only 10 of 83 arrested officials being gazetted, against 73 non-gazetted staff.
The 2026 trap data follows the same pattern — five gazetted officers against 83 non-gazetted. Senior-rank cases do surface occasionally — two chief engineers, a Haryana Civil Service officer, and a district town planner have been arrested in past operations — but they remain the exception, not the rule.
Whether the new list of 140 breaks that pattern, or simply formalises the same lower-rung targeting at greater scale, is not something Wednesday’s statement addressed.
Incentives, technology, and outreach
Haryana’s Most Corrupt: To push officers toward bigger catches, Chawla announced that anyone who traps an accused taking a bribe of ₹2 lakh or more will receive a Class-I Certificate.
He said modern trap equipment has already been supplied to all ranges, with more advanced gear to be procured soon. He also directed officers to widely publicise the Bureau’s toll-free numbers — 1800-180-2022 and 1064 — through awareness boards at government offices, markets and other public places, and to strengthen coordination with Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police who often receive corruption complaints directly.
Recognising the Bureau’s own performers
Several officers were felicitated for their trap record in the first half of 2026. Gold Medals went to those who conducted 10 or more operations — Inspector Jagjeet, ASI Reenu, Head Constable Navin Kumar, ASI Sukhvinder and Head Constable Dinesh. Silver Medals, for more than five operations, went to Inspector Jakir Hussain, ASI Naveen, ASI Jitender, Head Constable Ejaz and Constable Sachin.
What’s still missing
The Bureau has not said whether the list of 140 will be made public, released department-wise, or shared only internally with field officers for surveillance purposes. It will be interesting to see what happens to an officer once named: whether inclusion triggers closer monitoring, a formal inquiry, or nothing beyond being flagged.
For a state where corruption arrests have historically clustered in the police and revenue departments, and where senior officers have been named only rarely, the real test of Wednesday’s announcement will be whether the list changes who gets caught — or simply gives an existing pattern a new name.
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