Sitting over corruption cases, but why?

The UT Government has been consistently reaffirming its resolve of zero tolerance to corruption and very recently, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha repeated the same resolve and declared that whether the case be of a corrupt politician or a bureaucrat , one needed to be afraid from the Government which pursued a zero tolerance policy towards corruption. It is also a fact that Jammu and Kashmir is vastly affected and has been so, over many years in a row, due to rampant corruption in Government departments. How does it look when identified cases of corruption are not taken to their logical ends and the culprits getting severely punished. The designated agency, armed with all facilities, powers and the requisite infrastructure can, under no circumstances, resort to any alibi in justifying treating the accused in corruption cases with kid gloves. ‘Excelsior’ has, on umpteen occasions, voiced due concern that usually unless courts intervene, no action in ordinary course, by the Executive is taken which falls in its lawful realm and authority.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in respect of corruption cases in Jammu and Kashmir is being dealt with by the High Court , the Division Bench of which has taken a serious view for ”sitting over the corruption cases ” and has passed strictures against the Jammu and Kashmir Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB). It has directed the General Administration Department to file the information sought vide earlier orders failing which the Secretary looking after the Department, shall have to appear in person on the next date of hearing. It is beyond comprehension as to when FIRs are sought to be filed and in those cases, where they have already been filed, why the process of investigations and preparing charge sheets etc is nowhere to be seen with the same urgency which these types of offences are supposed to be shown. The Division Bench has even gone as far as to know whether such a lackadaisical approach was due to facing certain difficulties or sheer incompetence by the ACB in which case, the court has even made the option known that ”alternative means could be explored ” to ensure that the concerned cases were not buried under the carpet and instead, reached the logical ends.
It is fairly evident that more time deliberately ”afforded ” to be expended in the process, more were chances of building weak prosecution cases and brighter chances of acquittals rather than severe punishments . The time factor, therefore, was of paramount importance which had to be kept in mind in dealing with cases of corruption.
On the other hand, it was of utmost significance and gravity to know what departmental action had been taken against the corrupt officials . It is strange that in most of the cases , accused in corruption cases continue to ”attend” offices even when the status of their cases is having reached up to the levels of filing of FIRs. In most of the cases, such officials are treated in quite normal course and allowed to avail of all facilities, benefits and salaries etc. The thumb rule should have been universal applicability of placing their services under suspension and barring entry into the offices where irregularities and acts of corruption were indulged in by them to pre-empt any chances of fiddling with documents and files. Verily, the Division Bench has asked the General Administration Department to furnish information about the departmental action taken against such employees involved in cases of corruption.
It is really unbelievable that for years together investigations are not completed , even for over a decade like an FIR of 2009 against the then Vice Chancellor of SKUAST , Jammu . The benefit has gone to the accused is what the DB has seriously observed. Either there is connivance of the officers at the helm or such cases are treated to be not of any serious nature or there was a deep rooted working culture of no accountability and exhibiting any responsibility. There are several cases of the years of 1998 to 2009 to 2016 where reportedly no headway in investigations has been made which does not augur well by any measure and point towards complicity of the authorities in charge . With such an approach, corruption was getting encouragement and sustainability deflating ”zero tolerance” claims of the Government.