The home ministry, different local bodies in Delhi and public sector banks received the maximum number of corruption complaints involving their employees last year, according to a Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) report released on Tuesday. Of the total 81,595 “corruption complaints received in respect of all categories of officers/employees”, the highest (26,872) involved Ministry Home Affairs (MHA) employees, it said.
The report said that 7,578 complaints were against staff of local bodies, except the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), and 6,460 against bank employees, it said. The report did not give a break-up of the complaints received by different organisations or wings under the MHA, or for the local bodies.
The local bodies include the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), the Delhi Transco Ltd (DTL) and the North, East and South MCD (Municipal Corporations of Delhi), among others, a source explained.
As many as 4,986 were against those under the coal ministry or sector, 4,191 against housing and urban affairs employees, 4,169 against GNCTD staff, 3,067 against those in the labour sector, 3,057 against employees in civil aviation and 2,547 in the petroleum sector, said the CVC’s annual report for 2020.
It also said that 2,077 complaints were against those in defence, 2,023 against Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) staff, 1,732 under finance and 1,559 against those in the telecommunication sector.
A total of 1,133 complaints were against those under the steel ministry, 981 were against those in the insurance sector, 893 against those with human resource development, 837 against consumer affairs, food and public distribution staff, 708 against those in the department of posts sector and 669 against those working under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), it said.
Giving details of the total of 81,595 complaints received during the last year, the report said 60,492 were disposed and 21,103 are pending — 12,262 for more than three months.
It said of the total of 26,872 complaints related to the MHA, 14,818 were disposed and 12,054 were pending (7,178 for more than three months). Out of the total of 7,578 complaints against local bodies, 6,619 were disposed and 959 were pending — 781 for more than three months, according to the report.
A total of 5,908 complaints out of 6,460 received against banks employees were disposed and 552 were pending (208 for more than three months), it said.
The annual report was tabled in Parliament during the recently-concluded Monsoon Session and uploaded on the commission’s website on Tuesday. A large number of these complaints, that is 73,743, were received by Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs) who act as a distant arm of the CVC to check corruption of the organisation concerned alone.
Besides the complaints received by CVOs, the CVC also got 27,035 complaints during 2020, down from 32,579 in 2019. Of these, 25,312 and 34,813 complaints were disposed in 2020 and 2019 respectively.
Also a large number of complaints being received in the commission are anonymous/pseudonymous in nature. In many complaints, the allegations are wild or unverifiable and in some the intention of the complainant is to harass someone rather than reporting corrupt activities.
Therefore, as a general policy, anonymous/ pseudonymous complaints are not entertained, it said.
After scrutiny of complaints received, the commission calls for inquiry or investigation reports from the appropriate agencies only in those complaints which contain serious and verifiable allegations and there is a clear vigilance angle, the report said.
As per the laid down procedure, the inquiry / investigation reports are required to be sent to the Commission within a period of three months.
However, it is observed that in a majority of cases there is considerable delay in finalizing and submission of reports to the Commission. Inordinate delays in submission of inquiry / investigation reports to the Commission are a matter of serious concern, it added.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Assembly Elections Live Updates here.
Comments
0 comment