Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 3: The Government apathy towards the State Vigilance Commission (SVC) notwithstanding, the Commission has received 362 cases of corruption against the Government officials in a short span of just four months of its formal constitution. It has investigated a number of cases and disposed some of them.
The Commission, headed by former Director General of Police (DGP) Kuldeep Khoda which has been functioning from lawns of Old Assembly complex in Srinagar, the summer capital of the State, has received a total of 362 cases that included 154 directly and 208 from the State Accountability Commission (SAC).
After a lot of hiccups, the SVC was formally constituted in February end this year with the oath of Mr Khoda as Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and R K Jerath, a retired IAS officer as Vigilance Commissioner.
Sources in the Commission told the Excelsior that it has received 154 cases directly in just four months. Despite massive shortage of staff, it took up investigations expeditiously in 53 cases. While it closed 38 cases as “not established” after due inquiry, it has sought reports from various departments in 15 cases for initiating further action in them.
One hundred and one directly received cases were under process, they said.
The SVC has received 208 cases from the SAC, which pertained to corruption charges and other irregularities in Government Departments.
Of them, the SVC has taken up investigations instantly in 33 cases. While 13 cases were found as “not established”, 20 others were under investigations, which were likely to be completed in the next few days. As many as 175 cases handed over to the SVC by the SAC were yet to be taken up for investigations in the absence of staff, office, framing of rules etc.
It may be reported here that the Government had decided that the SAC, another anti-corruption body, would hand over the cases of corruption and other irregularities against the Government and Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) officials/officers to the SVC while retaining the cases against politicians only.
Reliable sources said that newly set up SVC was facing massive shortage of staff, which was having telling impact on investigations of the cases, which it has received during a little span of just four months.
Worthwhile to mention that the SVC is yet to be fully constituted as it was short of one Vigilance Commissioner.
Moreover, as against the sanctioned staff strength of about 100 officials/officers, the Government has given the Commission only a dozen staff members. The Commission had been allotted Old Assembly Hall as the office, which was still in the process of being given the shape of an office besides the renovation work.
Pending commissioning of the office, the SVC has been operating from lawns of the Old Assembly complex, which might sound strange.
“It’s definitely a precarious situation where in the office of the premier anti-graft body set up by the Government has been operating from the lawns,” sources said.
Out of 100 odd sanctioned strength of officers, the SAC has only a dozen of officers, they added and pointed out that no technical staff has been given to the body, which included Superintending Engineers, Chief Technical Officers, Revenue, Forest, R&B and Civil Engineers etc. It has been given just one Additional Secretary out of sanctioned strength of three.
Of 12 posts of Law Officers, the SVC has only one. Of four posts of Deputy Secretaries, the Commission has none.
They said the SVC was still awaiting framing of the rules, which would clear the functioning of the SVC and State Vigilance Organisation and the relation between the two.
Even after more than two years of the passing of the Act by the Legislature for setting up the SVC and four months of constitution of the Commission, the Government hasn’t framed its ruled so far.
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