The general perception that it takes time in Govt departments to get the work done though conceiving purely out of the belief in the fait accompli or a tradition, it appears, is still being nurtured as a delay of a few months matters nothing much in the UT Administrative set up. In other words, if an updated manual or a ready handbook on Vigilance Manual is completed in a record reasonable period of time – thanks to the team spirit of the Anti Corruption Bureau personnel – who wrote it, shaped it with the latest, compartmentalised contents in respect of different sections so as to be referred to with brevity for ready reference, produced and interpreted latest circulars and notifications on the subject issued from time to time by the Central Vigilance Commission and General Administration Department respectively etc. Whatever could be in a scattered condition or in an erratically filed manner of whatever latest, amended and new about the subject having been issued, much than that is now compiled, it is learnt, in a concise manner in the form of the New Vigilance Manual which stands already submitted to the General Administration Department for “further action”.
Having said that, it hardly requires to be emphasised that the Manual had to be approved after letting its contents to be subjected to necessary editing, pruning, modifications, additions or deletions, whatever the case, of course, after taking advice from the legal experts. So far, it has not been done for reasons not known although the dire need of having an updated and latest version of the manual was increasingly felt more so following the political and constitutional developments of October 2019. The bane of many ills, it is widely fairly acknowledged, in the administrative system in Jammu and Kashmir is the ”institution” of corruption, the sustenance of which the successive Governments have been accepting but most unfortunately, very little or negligible is being done to nab the corrupt officials quite in time and rather swiftly and to have cases registered against them to get speedily convicted . That all emanates from many factors right from the initial stages like the suspects not being put under the radar of the vigilance net, ignoring corrupt practices , encouraging delays and withholding of files on frivolous grounds, not pressing for timely submission of and not strictly scanning annual returns on assets and liabilities of employees on comparative basis, not responding positively to the findings of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and not initiating the primary departmental enquiries quickly as also following an outdated Vigilance Manual and thus the process of investigations.
The process of vigilance administration demands that it should be equipped with all the arsenal it requires to deal with offences committed by employees related to money matters in whatever form and even encompasses offences segregated under new branches to be dealt with like Economic Offences etc. A comprehensive reference book, on the pattern of Central Vigilance Commission in the form of a revised form with latest contents on the issue, therefore, has been shaped and made by the ACB which has chapters specially earmarked for Public Sector Enterprises, Banking and Insurance Companies, preventive vigilance, disciplinary proceedings etc. Hence, it is an effective tool to deal with the menace of malpractices, corruption and corrupt practices and the related offences quite effectively.
We repeatedly impress upon the need to recognise that to resolve today’s problems, yesterday’s solutions cannot usually work. The entire process, therefore, must undergo periodic reforms, repeated reviews and moulding and reshaping accordingly in tune with and suiting the emerging issues and problems. Hence, the revised Vigilance Manual of the ACB must get due approval and thus made a guiding Manual in vigilance matters, without any further delay.
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