Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 4: Officially, corruption has been identified as one of the major issues to be tackled strongly and several departments, which are more vulnerable to the corrupt practices, have been identified for focused attention. However, State Vigilance Organization is not taking seriously the complaints of malpractices in these departments as a result of which the pendency of Joint Surprise Checks is increasing year after year and the objective behind the same stands defeated.
The Government vide Circular No.GAD-12 dated May 26, 2003 had authorized Vigilance Organization to conduct surprise checks jointly with a representative of the concerned Government department into the complaint(s) of malpractices.
Much emphasis on involvement of representative(s) of the concerned department(s) was laid by keeping in mind that the collection of information is the most important aspect and this has to be organized in a systematic and well-planned manner so that corrupt elements do not go scot-free.
By way of this circular, several departments like Revenue, R&B, PHE/ Irrigation/ Flood Control, Power Development, Rural Development, JDA/SDA, Excise and Forest etc were identified by the Government for focused attention by the State Vigilance Organization.
It was decided that number of Joint Surprise Checks would be authorized to the State Vigilance Organization to detect malpractices by way of visiting the points and places of corruption like the works under execution or executed, stores of different departments etc.
However, the objective behind this strategy is not being achieved and complaints of malpractices are largely getting un-attended for the obvious reasons. This can be gauged from the official data available with EXCELSIOR.
During the period between July 2013 to December 2013, 20 Joint Surprise Checks were authorized to the State Vigilance Organization. At that time there was a backlog of 42 Joint Surprise Checks of the previous months thus making a total of 62.
Shockingly, the State Vigilance Organization in association with the officers/departmental vigilance officers/representatives of concerned departments conducted eight surprise checks during this period as against total of 62. Due to this the backlog increased from 42 to 55 at the end of December 2013.
Similarly, during the period between January 2014 to June 2014, 32 Joint Surprise Checks were authorized and at that time there was a backlog of 55 thus making a total of 87. But, the State Vigilance Organization conducted only 12 Joint Surprise Checks thereby rendering 75 Joint Surprise Checks pending. In this way, the backlog, which was 42 in July 2013, increased to 75 in June 2014.
The backlog of Joint Surprise Checks is increasing despite the fact that majority of the complaints turned out to be true and allegations of malpractices were established.
Out of eight Joint Surprise Checks conducted between July to December 2013, one led to registration of FIR and violations/irregularities detected in four others were referred to the General Administration Department and Administrative Departments for appropriate action.
Similarly, two FIRs were registered on the basis of Joint Surprise Checks conducted during the first six months of current year and violations/irregularities in three cases were referred to the concerned departments for appropriate action.
According to the official sources, these Joint Surprise Checks can help in tightening noose around those involved in malpractices and corrupt practices provided the mode of action is taken seriously by the State Vigilance Organization.
The non-serious approach towards timely and expeditious Joint Surprise Checks is notwithstanding the fact that Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) of the State, Kuldeep Khoda and Vigilance Commissioner Ghous-ul-Nisa Jeelani have recently laid stress on speeding up of preliminary enquiries and verifications especially in the cases pertaining to works departments and developmental schemes.
“Unless enquiries and verifications are concluded expeditiously the fight against corruption will remain confined to the official files”, sources said.
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