New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS): A Delhi court Monday slapped a fine of Rs.75 lakh and a three-year jail term on a retired 67-year-old bureaucrat who was assistant director general in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in a corruption case.

The bureaucrat was found guilty of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. He was found to have amassed assets of over Rs.70 lakh, and it was proven that over Rs.13 lakh of this was disproportionate to his sources of income.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Dinesh Kumar Sharma convicted Vishwa Vibhuti, who retired as a senior bureaucrat, Monday in a 17-year-old case.

The court held that the Vishwa Vibhuti was a Class I government officer and worked in a medical store department. He accumulated wealth which has proved to be disproportionate to his known sources of income.

"This case becomes more sensitive in view of the fact that the convict (Vibhuti) was given a pious duty of acquiring medicines for government hospitals. Acquisition of wealth by indulging in corrupt practices in such a job is very serious," the court observed.

The court said corruption in any form and of any quantum be punished severely so that a message goes out that "corruption should never be a profitable business". It added that corruption creates imbalance in society and obstructs the development of the nation.

The court noted that such corruption causes people to distrust government machinery.

The CBI registered a case against Vibhuti May 15, 1996, alleging that while functioning as a public servant in the capacity of ADG, Government Medical Store Department (GMSD) at Hyderabad and Delhi between June 1985 to March 1995, he accumulated huge movable and immovable assets worth Rs.72,68,258 in his name and the names of members of his family.