The Anti Corruption Bureau has already arrested one corporator’s driver and the other’s PA for accepting bribes on their behalf. But the CM wants to see “direct evidence” against the corporators.Corruption cases against two BMC corporators with potential to pave the way for similar action against several more corporators are stuck because Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s office has not granted sanction to the Anti Corruption Bureau to move against them.What makes the two cases so important, and the chief minister’s decision to sit on the files so frustrating for the ACB, is that the agency has already arrested two ‘private persons’ for allegedly collecting bribes on behalf of the two corporators, a common modus operandi adopted by corrupt public servants.If the CM clears the prosecution of the two corporators – Gyanmurti Sharma from Malad and Rajashree Palande from Chembur – it will not only help the ACB move forward with the case, but also help it crack more such cases involving drivers, private secretaries, or family members as collection agents for public servants. Both Sharma and Palande are ruling Bharatiya Janata Party corporators.With an annual budget of over Rs 33,000 crore, the BMC is one of the most corrupt local body in the state. The ACB frequently traps civic engineers and officials accepting bribes. Praveen Dixit, the then ACB chief had in 2014 said that if corruption in the civic body could be rooted out, prices of apartments in Mumbai would fall by at least Rs 500 per sq ft.ACB officials trap over a dozen BMC staffers in corruption cases each year. However, cases of corporators being trapped are few since most corporators operate through private collection agents.The ACB’s request for prosecution sanction was first sent to the Urban Development Department, which the CM heads, in April last year. The file was placed before Fadnavis in August last year, but instead of granting permission, he asked the Urban Development department to see if the ACB had “direct evidence” against the two corporators.The ACB report, a copy of which is with Mumbai Mirror, reveals that Palande’s personal assistant Sunil Khanna and Sharma’s driver took bribes on their behalf. While the ACB trapped the driver and the PA in a trap laid in February last year, the agency requires permission from the Urban Development department to file a charge sheet against the two corporators under the Prevention of Corruption Act since they are elected representatives.Fadnavis, soon after his swearing-in ceremony, had declared that his government will have “zero tolerance on corruption”.While Palande’s personal assistant was trapped by the ACB for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe from a garage owner to protect his ‘illegal shed’ in Chembur, Sharma was booked for bribery after his driver Avdhut Tari and personal assistant Brijlal Tiwari were arrested by the ACB while accepting Rs 100,000 bribe from a transporter who wanted to evade octroi.Vasant Devarkar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (ACB) told Mumbai Mirror on Tuesday that no nod for prosecution was received from the state government.According to Urban Development department officials, both the deputy secretary and the principal secretary of the department had suggested that the permission to prosecute the two corporators should be granted, but the CM decided otherwise. “Since we were asked to submit a proposal with direct evidence we sent the file to the Law and Judiciary department for its opinion. They sent the file back to us and we are now trying to examine the forensic evidence,” said a senior UD official who refused to be named.According to experts, it isn’t the Urban Development department’s job to examine evidence. “If the ACB have given a report and want to prosecute the two corporators, the department should give them sanction. Urban Development department is not the competent authority to examine any evidence or forensic records. This is just a mechanism to delay the prosecution. The courts have to decide if there is direct evidence or no,” said IPS officer-turned-lawyer Y P Singh.When contacted on Tuesday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that he would check the concerned files and get back.Both Sharma and Palande told Mumbai Mirror on Tuesday that they have secured anticipatory bails. “The ACB has recorded my statement. The case will not stand in a court of law,” said Sharma.