The issue is serious, as more or less a generalised approach of the core State administration towards the important role assigned to the Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC) and that of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) is rendering them ineffective and inefficacious. Who are those in the State Administration who are bent upon keeping the State among the ones most corrupt in the country -need to be identified , exposed and relieved of their assigned ‘duties’. On the face of it , on papers and official documents and by legislative measures , corruption is sought to be fought and wiped out and the CVC is the highest anti -corruption institution in our State . It , therefore, follows that any recommendation, reference , advice , suggestion and report on any matter related to graft, corruption, financial irregularities and similar cases of underhand means need to be given serious attention as they all relate to a critical issue, the menace of corruption.
Having said so, how does it sound that the Chief Vigilance Commission should voice concern and anguish over the fate of investigation of corruption cases by the senior officers of the administration who include Deputy Commissioners and Additional Deputy Commissioners including the District Vigilance Officers. Further more, in several cases of illegal mutations and large number of appeals pending about them, officers and concerned officials of the Revenue Department were least bothered about the goings on in their department despite strictures passed against them by the CVC relate to how field revenue officials were openly involved in such illegal mutations only for ‘considerations’.
‘Excelsior’ has on many occasions through these columns been urging the State Government to take immediate but corrective steps to revamp the State Revenue Department , make its working digital and introduce other reforms in it including simplifying the draft, language and doing away with the usage of hard to decipher terminology in documents and other important papers related to revenue records . It is this peculiar type of ‘professional’ deliberately created system to breed and promote only corruption and harass the innocent public . Looking to the non seriousness accorded to the investigation of blatant cases of corruption especially during the tenure of the Governor’s rule, it could be left to conjectures only what would be the fate of such cases under the political Government.
Can the Governor’s administration ask District Vigilance Officers to submit the list of the cases pending with them for disposal and the causes of the delays and deferments . The cases are the ones sent by the CVC and the Anti Corruption Bureau to them for enquiring, investigating and proceeding further . Not only this, the gravity of the matter can be gauged by the number of references, over 409 to be precise, of the Anti Corruption Bureau referred by the Commission to the Deputy Commissioners and Additional Deputy Commissioners but no action has so far been taken by them. If it is not sitting over such cases involving cognizable offence and punishable under relevant clauses of the law and passing time deliberately to allow the culprits enjoy Government service with pay and perks and move freely, what else is it, is not difficult to calculate. All this scenario is a flagrant organised system within a system to allow , encourage and promote graft, financial irregularities, corruption, misuse of official position and similar illegal acts in the State departments , especially in the Revenue Department which needs to be taken note of very seriously . In the meantime, we would be monitoring the developments in the matter under reference which is critically of sensitive nature.
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