The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) reportedly announced on Wednesday that it would not henceforth accept complaints of “big ticket corruption”.
The stupefying public proclamation was displayed briefly on the notice board at the anti-corruption agency’s headquarters, triggering television news scrolls and a political controversy in their wake.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said in New Delhi that the announcement tantamount to contempt of court. The High Court had on Tuesday criticised the VACB for having assumed to dictate to the government matters of policy, including postings which were the sole preserve of the executive.
The agency had drawn flak for its finding that the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government had flouted rules in appointing N. Sankar Reddy as Director, VACB. The poster was a slight to the court, he alleged.
The agency said the notice was no snub. It was a sardonic reminder to anti-corruption investigators that they should treat all inquiries equally, irrespective of whether the suspects were big fish or small fry. Such “aide-memoire” was usual in the VACB and should not be linked to any particular development. It also indicated the agency’s ethos that “true justice” required a commitment in “each of us to liberty and mutual justice”.
The agency denied the charge that its inquiry report in the Sankar Reddy case had forayed into the preserve of the executive or assumed to counsel the government on postings. Instead, the report had only pointed out that Mr. Reddy had been elevated to the post despite vehement audit and “rule-based” bureaucratic opposition.
The court had ordered the VACB to probe the matter after a private complaint alleged that Mr. Reddy was posted overlooking seniority and bureaucratic counsel to sabotage the bar bribery case. The VACB did not initiate the enquiry on its own.
