Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 26: In reply to a question in Parliament today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances,Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh announced the Government’s decision to switch over to “single window ” disposal of corruption cases against Government officials.
He said, within just about two months of the formation of the present Government on August 1, 2014, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) had set up a “single window” system in order to avoid delay in disposal of such cases and to expedite the process of prosecution and other similar proposals by overcoming procedural infirmities.
Dr. Jitendra Singh also referred to the practice of DoPT holding quarterly meetings to monitor the pending cases of sanction for prosecution and stated that the last meeting for this purpose was held on January 21 this year.
He clarified that the sanction for prosecution against officials for criminal as well as corruption cases is accorded under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr. PC) or Section-19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 at various levels and in different service cadres. Such sanctions, he explained, are accorded by different competent authorities either in the State Government or in the Government of India, depending on the rank and service cadre of the official concerned.
Since the DoPT happens to be the cadre controlling authority for IAS, CSS and CBI (Group ‘A’ officers only), Dr. Jitendra Singh said, it handles prosecution cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act only against officers of these cadres. As such, the total cases registered in 2013 were 855,out of which 590 were from the Central services and 129 were from State services, while in 2014, the total number of cases registered were 871, including 540 from Central services and 70 from State services. Similarly, during the first one month of the year 2015 ending January 31, 73 cases from the above category had been registered among whom 46 were Central Government officials and 4 were State Government officials.
The process of sanction of prosecution has been effectively expedited which is evident from the fact that only 39 cases from 2013 and 22 cases from 2014 are pending for sanction. The delay occurring in sanction of prosecution of Government officials in such cases, Dr. Jitendra Singh pointed out, is mostly on account of detailed scrutiny and analysis of voluminous case records and evidence, consultation with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), State Government as well as other agencies and sometimes non-availability of relevant documentary evidence. The competent authorities have also been instructed by the DoPT to mandatorily take a decision in such cases in case of delay beyond stipulated period of time. However, with the setting up of single window system, Dr. Jitendra Singh assured, this process may get further expedited.
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