Vigilance Officers yet to be appointed in several deptts
*Need to fix time-frame for disposal to ensure accountability
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 17: Even after explicit directives of Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, large number of complaints are still pending for disposal with the Chief Vigilance Officers/Departmental Vigilance Officers of various Government departments and PSUs. This is mainly because no time-frame has been fixed for completion of this exercise, which otherwise is imperative to ensure accountability.
Moreover, Departmental Vigilance Officers are yet to be appointed in many Government departments and Public Sector Undertakings strictly as per the guidelines of the Central Vigilance Commission.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, while launching mobile application “Satark Nagrik” and Departmental Vigilance Officers portal of the Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau on January 7 this year, had stressed the need for prompt disposal of complaints being brought to the notice of Chief Vigilance Officers/Departmental Vigilance Officers.
“By timely referring the complaints to the DVOs and their quick disposal can go long way in bringing transparency in the functioning of the departments and prevent loss to the exchequer”, the Lieutenant Governor had stated after being briefed about the mandate of CVOs/DVOs by Director of Anti-Corruption Bureau.
However, as per the sources in Anti-Corruption Bureau and General Administration Department, large number of complaints are still pending for disposal with the CVOs/DVOs during the past quite long time as such the directives of the Lieutenant Governor have not yielded the desired results.
“This is mainly because no time-frame has been fixed so far for the CVOs and DVOs for the disposal of complaints and submission of reports either to the General Administration Department or to the Anti-Corruption Bureau”, sources said, adding “the General Administration Department tracks only those cases which are received from the Anti-Corruption Bureau and Crime Branch for departmental enquiries by the CVOs/DVOs while as the concerned Heads of the Departments are supposed to ascertain the status of complaints from the CVOs/DVOs of their respective departments”.
They further said, “unless time lines are fixed for the disposal of complaints by the CVOs/DVOs the objective behind the creation of this mechanism of fighting the corrupt practices cannot be achieved”, adding “the General Administration Department is required to issue instructions specifically mentioning the period within which the CVOs/DVOs should dispose of the complaints”.
Meanwhile, several departments have yet not appointed the CVOs/DVOs strictly as per the guidelines of the Central Vigilance Commission even after explicit directions of the General Administration Department based on the communication sent by the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
This is notwithstanding the fact that the CVOs and DVOs are required to assist the authorities heading the Government departments, statutory bodies, other corporations, Public Sector Undertakings and societies etc in discharge of duties relating to vigilance administration. Moreover, they are supposed to help in strengthening the internal vigilance mechanism.
It is pertinent to mention here that all the Administrative Departments are required to designate an officer as Chief Vigilance Officer not below the rank of Additional Secretary at the Civil Secretariat level, who shall be responsible for vigilance administration.
At Directorate/Head of the Department level, Departmental Vigilance Officer, not below the rank of Deputy Secretary, is required to be designated by the concerned Administrative Department and will function directly under the supervision of concerned Chief Vigilance Officer. The Additional Deputy Commissioners are ex-officio District Vigilance Officers (District VOs) in respect of the offices of all Government and other departments stationed in their respective districts.
Moreover, all the Government departments, local authorities, Corporations, Government companies or societies owned or controlled by the Government having their subordinate offices in districts are required to designate an officer to function as Additional Vigilance Officer (AVO) not below the rank of Under Secretary, who shall assist the District Vigilance Officer (District VO) in the vigilance administration pertaining to their respective departments.
“Generally, it has been seen that within short span of time the officers designated as CVOs/DVOs get transferred and in such situation internal vigilance mechanism suffers a lot”, sources said, adding “the Government is required to ensure that at least those officers who have been designated as CVOs/DVOs don’t get transferred frequently so as to ensure timely and prompt disposal of complaints”.
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