A public interest litigation was filed before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Wednesday seeking action against corrupt bureaucrats of Uttar Pradesh.

Moved by journalist Shidhendra Tripathi, the PIL has charged the state government of turning a blind eye to the rampant corruption at various levels in the administration and also blamed Chief Minister Mayawati for being instrumental in getting proven cases of corruption dropped.

While admitting the petition, the division bench comprising judges Tarun Kumar Chatterjee and N K Mehrotra directed the government to file a counter-affidavit.

The petition has sought to draw the court's attention to least 24 cases against bureaucrats, including 13 IAS officers, being dropped even after vigilance probes had found them guilty of acquiring wealth disproportionate to their sources of income.

The PIL also said the vigilance department had gathered details of property acquired by these bureaucrats in Lucknow, where they were stated to have built houses worth crores, and other parts of the state.

The petitioner has said if these officers were allowed to go scot-free, the same would be fate of 40 other cases pending before the vigilance department.

A list of 24 'guilty' officers was attached with the petition. It included the name of a senior IAS officer, who had earlier been named as 'most corrupt' by the Uttar Pradesh IAS Association in a secret ballot.

Another name that prominently figures in the list was that of a bureaucrat close to the chief minister.