Panel pulls up Rajashtan Govt for failing to speed up graft probes

Panel pulls up Rajashtan Govt for failing to speed up graft probes
RAJESH SINHA

JAIPUR, JULY 8: The Rajasthan Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) has expressed serious concern over the Government's failure to take action against the inordinate delay in inquiries by the Anti-Corruption Department (ACD) as well as act on the recommendations of the Lokayukta.

Observing that corruption was the reason behind the multiplying public grievances, the ARC said only by taking stern action against the corrupt could public grievances be redressed. The ARC has also suggested formation of a committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister to review the cases handled by the ACD.

An indicator of the Government's approach was the treatment accorded to Lokayukta reports, the ARC said. The Lokayukta sends reports every year to the Governor. However, none of the reports has been made public since 1993. Unless effective and speedy action was taken on the Lokayukta reports, it would be difficult to tackle corruption, the ARC noted. Such action against senior or top-level government functionaries would also have a positive impact at the lower level.

There is a provision for filing a special report to the Governor if the government does not ensure action on the Lokayukta's report. The special report then has to be tabled in the State Assembly along with the Government's clarifications. Despite all this, the Government took unusually long to act on the Lokayukta recommendations, the ARC said.

As for the ACD, the ARC said the department, headed by a police officer of the rank of DG, had sufficient powers to carry out its task of dealing with corruption cases, and file cases against corrupt officers in courts. Yet, even obtaining permission from the Government to initiate an inquiry was taking a long time. Moreover, once the case reached the courts, it went on for years together. The ARC suggested a time-frame for disposal of such cases.

The ARC has also suggested constitution of a committee headed by the CM and comprising the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, Secretary (Personnel) and Director General to review all cases in which inquiries were pending for more than three months or those in which obtaining permission to launch prosecution took more than a month. The committee could take action against the officers responsible for the delay.