IN A first, the Central Vigilance Commission has disclosed the names of 123 government officials, which includes three IPS officers, against whom it has suggested sanction for prosecution or imposition of penalty for alleged corruption.
Complying with the provisions under the Right to Information Act, the commission has posted the names of the officials who are accused of corruption on its website. Out of the 123, the anti-corruption body has recommended imposition of penalties against 101 officials working in a cross section of government ministries, banks and PSUs. Out of the 101 officials, 17 work in nationalised banks, 13 in Delhi Development Authority and 11 in Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
Out of the 22 officers against whom prosecution proceedings have been advised, seven are from the home ministry, seven from central board of direct taxes, two from Indian Forest Service, one each from the department of health and department of agriculture. The commission has advised issuance of sanction for prosecution against three IPS officers from the ministry of home affairs, which includes Srikantappa Shri, Ajay Singh and Garcha Davinder Singh.
Every month the commission takes out a list in which it gives the number of government officials against whom it has recommended corruption proceedings. But earlier monthly reports did not name officials but identified the government departments or ministries. The commission said that the move to post the names of the officials is “in furtherance of the transparency initiatives and the spirit of the RTI Act, 2005.”
A note posted by the CVC further said that commission has decided to regularly post information and details of cases that have been pending for over four months with various organisations and departments for sanction for prosecution. The commission has also decided to post cases where it has advised issuance of sanction for prosecution during the month and cases where imposition of suitable major penalty has been advised.
The anti-corruption body has also recommended that heavy penalties should be imposed against nine officials each from the ministry of railways and the New India Assurance Company Ltd, and 11 from ONGC.
