CEO revises guidelines on cash for static surveillance teams

Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo on Thursday issued revised guidelines for static surveillance teams (SST) and flying squad teams (FST) on cash seizures. Under the new guidelines, the teams shall not seize cash above Rs 10 lakh, if there are adequate receipts, but the issue will be handed over for Income Tax Department to initiate further action.

If any star campaigner is seen carrying a cash up to Rs 1 lakh exclusively for his personal use or any party functionary is carrying cash with certificate from the treasurers of the party mentioning its end use, then the authorities in SST shall retain a copy of the certificate and will not seize the cash, the CEO said.

In case of more than Rs 10 lakh found in a vehicle and there is no suspicion of the commission of any crime then SST shall not seize the cash but pass on the information to IT authority for necessary actions, Sahoo explained.

To avoid inconvenience to the public and genuine persons a committee shall be formed comprising three officers.

The committee will include project director, nodal officer of expenditure monitoring and a districttreasury officer.

The committee shall investigate all cases as per the standard operating procedure and take immediate steps to order the release of such cash seizure after passing a speaking order to that effect, Sahoo explained.

The state election department has seized Rs 3.39 crore till Thursday. Any person who is accompanying the candidate or any party agent carrying cash above Rs 50,000 will be seized,the CEO said.

CEO Sahoo also conducted a meeting with police and the district election officers on effective implantation of model code of conduct.