SRINAGAR The Departmental Vigilance officers (DVOs) have failed to complete the inquiries of corruption due to which officers continue to extract money even for petty jobs. Official sources said that that there are hundreds of corruption inquiries pending for the last 10-years with vigilance officers of government departments in the state. A top official of the vigilance organization said that over the years they have registered hundreds of corruption, nepotism, high-handedness and red-tapism cases, but the government departments have failed to initiate action. He said in many of these cases, the vigilance organization-initiated FIRs, recommended suspension of the officials and action against senior functionaries, but recommendations were not acted upon. According to the official, the maximum number of these cases were related to the R&B department, PHE, Health department followed by PSUs.
Departmental heads seem less interested in punishing the corrupt officials, said the official. He said that the issue was also raised with the government headed by the Governor Satya Pal Malik that its recommendations were not implemented by departments in the state.
Sources also said that the departmental vigilance officers were directed several times by the government to adopt a multi-dimensional approach to check corruption by government officials. However, most of the times, they either take years to complete the investigations or enquiries remain unresolved. Over these years, the highest number of enquiries were pending in Revenue, R&B and Relief and Rehabilitation departments. Figures had revealed that action has been taken in only 100 cases, while 2,063 were still waiting for disposal in the departments. Sources said that in the Rural Development Department, 772 enquiries were pending, while only 51 cases have been resolved. In Housing and Urban Development Department, the action was taken in 195 cases out of 512.
At least 165 corruption-related cases were resolved in Education Department and enquiry was pending in over 1,175 cases. In Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department, the action was taken in only 14 cases, while investigations have not been completed in over 255 cases.
The government had issued a circular asking the chief vigilance officers and departmental vigilance officers of all departments to ensure completion of the enquiries pending with them expeditiously.
They shall develop strong internal vigilance mechanism in their respective departments, as also to work in tandem with State Vigilance Commission (SVC) to eradicate the menace of corruption at all levels, the circular reads. The departments were told to provide the complete information on their websites regarding the laws, rules and procedures governing the issuance of licenses, permissions, clearances, and certificates, which they have failed to, however.
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