Scrutinise vigilance, corruption complaints to find ‘systemic lacunae’, CVC tells govt depts
NEW DELHI: The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has asked the central government ministries, departments and organisations under its jurisdiction to ensure that every vigilance or corruption complaint received against their officials be scrutinised thoroughly to see if any “systemic lacunae” may have resulted in irregular acts by the suspects.
The findings of such scrutinies should then be used to devise “systemic improvements” to stop a recurrence, CVC said in a new set of guidelines on handling corruption or vigilance complaints. The 25-page document also asks government departments to prepare case studies giving details of modus operandi in such corruption matters, along with corrective measures, which should be circulated in the organisation to educate or alert other officials.
In case the systemic loopholes may have an impact across the or on other organisations, the details may be shared with the administrative ministry or department, the regulatory authorities concerned, and with the Commission for issuing appropriate guidelines, CVC added.
HT has reviewed the guidelines, issued on December 24, aimed at streamlining the process of receiving and handling thousands of vigilance or corruption complaints received from citizens every year.
The guidelines say that complaints against government servants should be genuine and “not malicious, vexatious or frivolous” and should be based on verifiable facts. They should be specific with adequate evidence and should not be biased or based on personal grievances, the guidelines add.
Apart from specifics on how the complaints should be framed and submitted, the guidelines specify that one particular issue should be raised in one complaint and that they should be about vigilance matters only.
For the ministries and government departments, the guideindustry, lines ask that proper complaints registered to be maintained and each complaint be examined by the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of the respective organisation.
In case of complaints against officials of central public sector enterprises, public sector banks etc, the initial decision about the existence of vigilance angle in a complaint may be taken by the CVO, according to the guidelines.
The guidelines clearly state that complaints against boardlevel appointees of public sector organisations must be forwarded to the administrative ministry. “Under no circumstances, CVO of an organisation should initiate action against the board-level appointee of his organisation.” The CVC, however, can ask CVOS to investigate and report against board-level appointees.
A senior official, who asked not to be named, said: “These will create awareness among the public so that they are able to become active participants in the process of eliminating corrupt and irregular activities from public life.”