The State government seems to be indifferent to the recommendation made by the CBI and the State Anti-Corruption Bureau on appointing vigilance officers in all its departments.
A joint conference of the Anti-Corruption Bureau and CBI officials in New Delhi in October 2012 passed nine important resolutions, including appointing vigilance officers in State government departments to check graft.
Following this, the State government sought the opinion of the Lokayukta and the latter gave consent. But, no steps have been taken to make the appointments.
While saying that the Lokayukta did not object to the appointment of vigilance officers, H.N. Sathyanarayana, Additional Director-General of Police, Lokayukta, told The Hindu that the State government must appoint vigilance officers and a chief vigilance officer, on the lines of the one in the Union government, to check corruption. “When the State government sought opinion on the appointment, the Lokayukta agreed to it,” he added.
Refusing to comment on why the government was delaying the appointments, he said: “If the government had referred corruption cases voluntarily to the Lokayukta, the burden on its police would have reduced to a considerable extent.”
According to him, the Lokayukta police registered 407 cases of raid, trap and court-referred cases in 2012, as against 487 in 2011 and 409 in 2010. “But the rate of conviction was 39.2 per cent in 2012, compared to 34.8 per cent in 2011 and 31.2 per cent in 2010. The rate of acquittal is impressive with 54.4 per cent in 2012 as against 56 per cent in 2011 and 63.9 per cent in 2010. As many as 10 top bureaucrats, including IAS officers, were caught by the Lokayukta police,” he said.
Court-referred cases
Referring to the registration of 99 court-referred cases in 2012, he said: “It is an all-time high, as only 19 cases were registered in 2011 and 11 in 2010.”
Noting that 363 cases were under investigation, Mr. Sathyanarayana said charge sheets had been filed in 438 cases (including old cases) in 2012 as against 417 in 2011 and 298 in the previous year.
While “B” and “C” reports were filed by Lokayukta police in 45 cases in 2012, the number was 47 in 2011 and 44 in 2010, he said.
Mr. Sathyanarayana said every attempt was being made to have police personnel with integrity in the Lokayukta, though reference made by the Police Department to send 15 personnel on deputation was rejected. “A ‘balanced score card’ system has been designed to monitor the performance of police personnel in the Lokayukta to protect the integrity of the organisation,” he added.
