Strictly contain corrupt practices in Govt.Departments

The most important question, to call a spade a spade , is whether corrupt practices are really considered by the State Government as unlawful, morally unjustifiable and in totality unacceptable with zero tolerance. If it is so, then what mechanism or a system of watch and vigilance is in active mode to bring the doers in various departments and State Public Sector Undertakings under the radar of strict watch and vigil with intent to identify , expose and punish them. The state has no dearth of legislative and statutory provisions and procedures to deal with such eventualities firmly but what is missing is the mind set and the administrative will to deal with the sensitive issue. For example, we have Jammu and Kashmir State Vigilance commission rules which are in the least invoked and more or less, have remained in a state of dormancy, same being the case with the institution of the Vigilance Commission in itself. Not only does the matter not end here , even Chief Vigilance Officers and Departmental Vigilance Officers are wilfully and blatantly shirking their critical duty while drawing their usual salaries and other perks without any ado. They perhaps seem to loath the otherwise superb duty to contribute towards arresting, if not fully rooting out, the scourge of corrupt practices in Government Departments.
The super Ombudsmen of the system are the people who are watching eagerly as to how the entire political and administrative rhetoric about fighting corrupt practices and corruption are just confined only to official papers and circulars. The rules vividly warrant appointment of Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) at Administrative Department level and other authorities with whatever designation at Directorate and Head of Department levels as also in each and every District for the only aim to eradicate and fight corrupt practices but as regards their actual contribution , less said the better. It seems that they are to necessarily report to none in the system to put forth their month’s job card details or at regular periodicity since the upper hierarchy in the system is seemingly less enthusiastic and serious about the entire process due to reasons unknown. While the procedures and rules suggest that such vigilance authorities are mandated to collect intelligence inputs about the irregularities and corrupt practices committed or likely to be committed to entrap the wrong doers , desirable results are eluding the system as the same is breached due to inactivity and casual approach about such a vital issue while the Vigilance Commission enjoying vast powers to have the desired information hardly acts in that direction.
Such a scenario decidedly does not augur any well for the State Government where such practices are reportedly not in any dearth and with such a weak mechanism only a few among them get surfaced. How many complaints are received by these Vigilance Officers from the Commission and what action in time bound manner is initiated in each case is not that important as how many are voluntarily gathered based on various inputs collected on their own by these designated officers to fight the menace. The Commission must act and act strictly under the spirits of its establishment under a proper legislation which aims at inquiring or causing to inquire and initiating investigations in respect of the offences Committed under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Can the Government come clean in matters of advising how meticulously it was pursuing the working of the Commission backed by any report of any Legislative Committee or findings of an audit on which due action was taken effectively by the CVOs or the DVOs. We would like to state that at least from the Governor’s administration, expectations of a turnaround in the system and a paradigm shift in the “conventional” approach are needed to launch all pronged fight against corrupt practices and corruption in the system with the same legislative and established apparatus.

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