On the action front, the CVC report reveals that on the basis of its recommendations, various competent authorities imposed major penalty in 47 cases in September, and 14 of them belong to the Railways. Merely one officer from CBDT figures in this list. However, since the past catches up with the present, the CBEC has granted sanctions for prosecution against 18 officers last month.
The Commission had also advised the Central Board of Excise and Customs to take specific initiatives against ambiguities while verifying duty drawback claims and advised to issue standing instructions and checklists specifying the documents mandatorily required for sanctioning of drawback claims.
Although there seems to be a marked improvement in the way the Govt treats the CVC advisories but the Commission is not very happy with the dealys in filling up important CVOs’ posts. Some of the organisations where the dealys have been more noteworthy are the Delhi Transport Corporation, Kochi Shipyard Ltd., BCCL, IREDA, FCI , EPFO, KIOCL and IRCON. The Government is being regularly reminded but not much response has come.
Raid at the residential premises of a senior Railways’ functionary in Lucknow
THE CBI raiding the residential premises of a senior Railways’ functionary in Lucknow yesterday, and detecting huge cash along with sumptuous investments unaccounted for, is certainly not a stray case. If one goes by the statistics provided by the Central Vigilance Commission, one might get the impression that the Railways has of late become a hotbed for corruption. Let’s take a look at the September statistics. Out of 111 officers recommended for major penalty by the Commission, 24 are from the Indian Railways. From the Revenue Boards, only four officers figure for major and minor penalty.
Thanks to its close examinations of six cases – two were in civil works, three in election and one in purchase, as much as Rs 32 Crore was recovered last month.
