Central Vigilance Commissioner K.V. Chowdary on Saturday said corruption had several definitions and acceptance of bribery was not the sole ingredient of corruption.
He was addressing a meeting at Andhra University on ‘Ethics in governance and probity in public life’ and interacted with the students of IIM-Vizag, AU, GITAM University, Gayatri Engineering College, and other institutions.
Favouritism
During the interaction, Sai Aditya of IIM-V wanted to know why favouritism resorted to by Railway Minister and others in allotment of funds and projects to their respective constituencies was not being treated as corruption. Mr. Chowdary underlined the need for preventive corruption and said bribery was one among many ingredients of corruption.
Multiple sub-sects
He said multiple sub-sects of graft included influencing opinion by violating rules and regulations and not following due procedures.
“There may not be direct quid pro quo necessitating a favour. Nepotism and favouritism like failure to follow laid down procedures also tantamount to corrupt practices,” he averred. Citing the instance of 2G scam where duration to finalise the contract was shortened by not giving scope to others to participate in the process and coal-gate scam where the guidelines were not followed to shortlist the applicants, he said CVC had now launched a campaign to educate the youngsters on preventive corruption.
Competitions
He said it was the responsibility of each and every citizen to become vigilant on professional misconduct, vested interests, lack of transparency and violation of rules and regulations and bring to the notice of various authorities to ensure that the delivery mechanism and award of contracts were done as per law. He said CVC in association with other government agencies conducted competitions among 5,000 school and college students in 150 towns and cities recently to sensitise them on their role to ensure probity in life.
Mr. Chowdary opined that whatever the whistleblowers say need not be true always.
Proper protection
Underlining the need for verifying the truth in the allegations, he told reporters that the rules on new legislation on whistleblowers would ensure proper protection to those exposing corruption. He said the new rules also ensure protection of the identity of the whistleblowers. He said the new Act would come into force once the rules were framed.
Amendments to Act
On amendments to Prevention of Corruption Act, he said more teeth were being given to the Act to bring the giver, facilitator and inducer to book.
He said the identity of the witnesses would also be protected as per the revised rules.
