CVC to launch special 3-month campaign
Sets deadline for disposing of pending complaints
NEW DELHI: Probity watchdog Central Vigilance Commission on Monday asked all government organisations to timely dispose of graft complaints and regularly update their websites, besides other steps as part of its first-of-its-kind three-month campaign from August 16.
In the directive issued to secretaries of all Central government departments and chief executives of public sector banks among others, the CVC also asked them to identify more areas that can be brought on an online portal for better, accurate and timely delivery of services.
The Commission has decided to observe the three-month-long campaign — preventive vigilance measures cum housekeeping activities — from August 16 to November 15, this year and identified six major focus areas.
These include property management, management of assets, record management, technical initiatives, updation of guidelines and disposal of outstanding complaints as on August 15, 2022.
All departments have been asked by the CVC to submit a report regarding the works undertaken on the six parameters during this special campaign period by December 9, 2022.
Timely disposal of complaints is of paramount importance. However, if complaints are kept pending for long without reaching a logical conclusion the genuine complainant feels frustrated and the staff, if guilty, continues to get protection, the CVC said.
At the same time, if the staff is not guilty, they continue to suffer if the complaints are kept pending for long without arriving at a logical conclusion, the Commission said. It is found that in many organisations, complaints sent for necessary action by the Commission/received by the organisation directly remained unattended for long, said the directive also issued to chief executives of central public sector enterprises and public sector insurance companies.
As such, the complaints sent from the Commission to the Chief Vigilance Officers/organisations for necessary action and the ones received directly by the organisations from various sources should be taken up as per Complaint Handling Policy, it said.
All complaints of this nature, pending as on 15th August 2022 at all levels of the organisations, should be attended to in a campaign mode to take to logical conclusion by November 15, 2022, the order said.
During the campaign period, all organisations must make efforts to ensure that their websites are updated and contain all proper and relevant information, it said.
People/customers visit the website for seeking details information and therefore all organisations should be prompt in regular updation of their website to cover all important and relevant aspects as and when they take place, the anticorruption watchdog said.
It also told the organisations to identify areas/activities which can be brought on online portal and necessary action to be initiated for the development of the portal during the campaign period.
The CVC noted that many organisations have brought many areas/services online that helped a lot in the eradication of corruption and at the same time brought efficiency in the delivery of services with transparency.
However, still there is huge scope to identify more areas which can be brought on online portal for better, accurate and timely delivery of services, said the order issued by P Daniel, Secretary, CVC.
They have also been asked by the Commission to identify and list out old furniture, machinery/equipment and other such old and unused assets and take appropriate action for their disposal.
Requisite measures also to be undertaken to keep the premises neat and clean, it said.
The Commission has asked all organisations to update guidelines/circulars issued by them as well.
Many organisations have not taken steps to update their guidelines/circulars and intermittently, several circulars have been issued. In absence of updated guidelines/circulars, it becomes difficult for the staff/customers to know the latest instructions/guidelines which lead to delays or mistakes, it said.
During the campaign period, all organisations should make efforts in identifying the areas where such updation is required and necessary steps be taken immediately for the same, the CVC said.
All Central government departments, public sector banks, insurance companies and central public sector enterprises have also been asked by the Commission to weed out old records and dispose of documents that have outlived their usage.
This may be done periodically, the order said. The CVC asked the government organisations to identify and list out all the land/buildings owned by them and ensure that the ownership documents are listed and verified.