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| Preventive, punitive approach must for combating corruption- CS | | | Early Times Reporter
Srinagar | July 30
Highlighting the importance of preventive measures in curbing corruption, Chief Secretary, S. S. Kapur has called for punitive action together with preventive measures and mass awareness to comprehensively deal with the menace of corruption.
Addressing Departmental Vigilance Officers' (DVOs) Conference at SKICC here on Wednesday, Kapur pinned hope that the institution of DVOs would strengthen the State Vigilance Organization (SVO) and help to nip the evil of corruption in the bud.
He favoured the idea of appointing full time DVOs for the departments traditionally considered prone to mal-practices and said that such DVOs should be out of the administrative control of these particular departments so that they have free hand in taking cognizance of the sound complaints. He said mass awareness against the corruption and speedy punishments to the culprits were two important aspects in the process of freeing the society from corruption.
Kapur said that dishonesty in the administration puts the governance on back seat and people lose faith in the administration. "We have to contribute collectively to free the society from corruption", he said adding there should be no harassment or negative approach in implementing the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Chief Secretary congratulated the Vigilance Organization for its achievements and said that SVO would get further strengthened under the stewardship of its Commissioner, Dr. Ashok Bhan. He lauded his role for bringing excellence to the organization. He also praised the organization for bringing out vigilance manual, adding that this would prove a guide to the officers of SVO in implementing the Prevention of Corruption Act purposefully and positively.
The Chief Secretary said that there are a good number of honest, performing and upright officials in the administration and government is identifying them and placing in key positions so that the ultimate goal of transparent administration and good governance is achieved in which people will be having absolute faith. He said that creation of posts of Additional District Development Commissioners for monitoring works was yielding good results. "It has proved a watchful eye on government spending on development works", he said. He also mentioned the creation of two additional courts for faster trial and said that this would help in punishing culprits early and sending signals to the functionaries to the root level.
Kapur, while laying stress on e-governance, underlined the need for harmonizing State Right to Information Act with the Central Act. Referring to the registration of 50 per cent corruption cases from rural areas, Chief Secretary said that impetus should be given to reach out to remote and rural areas where monitoring and inspection is inadequate and chances of corruption were high. He expressed happiness that DVOs institution was getting stronger day by day and SVO has referred 33 per cent of complaints to DVOs and Heads of Departments. He also praised the organization for attaching properties worth Rs 4.06 crore in 13 cases and said that war against corruption should continue unabated to cut the tentacles of corruption.
Earlier, the Vigilance Commissioner, Dr. Ashok Bhan, gave a detailed account of SVO suggesting measures to further improve its functioning and laid stress on strengthening the DVO institution by placing full time DVOs for corruption prone departments.
Saying that supervisory levels can make the difference and watch fullness within a department is best vigilance, Dr. Bhan said that mal-practices which may lead to criminal misconduct needed to be dealt quickly within the department to reduce the intervention by enforcement agencies.
‘I believe the anti-corruption drive can succeed when citizens, managers in government offices and enforcement agencies work in tandem and vigorously", he added.
Referring to the release of J&K State Vigilance manual, he said that in drafting the manual guidance from good practices developed over the years in CBI, other anti-corruption bodies and SVO has been kept in view. He expressed confidence that standardization of procedures through vigilance manual would ensure uniformity and objectivity in working and reduce the element of discretion at various levels.
"Our emphasis is on collection of quality information, completion of investigations and enquires in a time-frame", Bhan said and laid stress on a healthy and result oriented prosecutor-investigator interface. |
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