After the Haryana government’s refusal to grant prosecution sanction, a Panchkula court finally discharged senior IAS officer Vijay Dahiya (IAS:2001:HY) in a corruption case. The State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) informed the court that agencies tried to secure the required sanction from the competent authority multiple times to prosecute Dahiya after completing the investigation, but the Chief Secretary’s office declined to grant sanction through a letter on January 9, 2026.
The ACB submitted that in the absence of a sanction, the agency was not inclined to file a chargesheet against Dahiya. It paved the way for Dahiya being discharged by the court.
The state government had earlier objected to the ACB not obtaining prior approval of the government under Section 17-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act before registering the FIR against Dahiya.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Bikramjit Aroura observed that in the absence of a valid prosecution sanction, the court was legally barred from proceeding further against Dahiya.
The court had clarified, in its order on January 17, that the discharge of accused Vijay Dahiya was solely because of the refusal of prosecution sanction against him and that it should not prevent the prosecution from proceeding in the event of a valid sanction being granted in the future, if so permissible.
Dahiya is currently posted as Principal Secretary, looking after three departments—Printing and Stationery, Animal Husbandry, and Sports.
Dahiya had been arrested by the ACB on October 10, 2023, in connection with a corruption case and put behind bars for 49 days before being granted bail on November 28, 2023.
The controversy started on April 20, 2023, when the ACB filed an FIR naming three persons—Dahiya, who was serving as administrative secretary of the Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Department, along with Deepak Sharma, the Chief Skills Officer (a contractual appointee) in the Haryana Skill Development Mission, and a private individual, Poonam Chopra.
According to ACB officials, the agency completed its investigation and sought sanction to prosecute Dahiya in July 2024, followed by two reminders in January and August 2025, but it was declined by the state govt on the grounds that the investigation failed to establish any exchange of graft money between the IAS officer and the other accused as well as the complainant, Rinku Manchanda.
One Rinku Manchanda, a resident of Fatehabad who ran an educational institution, Gramin Shiksha, under the Haryana Skill Development Mission, had alleged that the skill development department owed about ₹50 lakh to him, but when he asked for the clearance of the dues, he was allegedly demanded a bribe of ₹5 lakh for processing the payment by Deepak Sharma, then posted as the chief skills officer.
According to the FIR, Dahiya, who was serving as the administrative secretary of the department, is said to have facilitated early clearance of the bills in lieu of ₹5 lakh as illegal gratification for clearing the bills.
The complainant agreed to the demand and allegedly paid ₹2 lakh to Dahiya’s acquaintance, one Poonam Chopra, as part payment. He demanded the rest of the graft money on April 20, 2023. The ACB then laid a trap and arrested her, leading to the exposé of the controversy.
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