Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has reportedly taken a dim view of the functioning of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB).
On Wednesday, Mr. Vijayan was huddled together with officers and legal advisers summoned from the agency’s units across the State till late into the night.
Sources privy to the largely secret closed-door meeting said the Chief Minister was “miffed” by the VACB’s rather “tactless” act of filing two different affidavits in the politically stormy bar bribery case in the High Court. The agency’s “bungling” had caused the special public prosecutor in the case to embarrassingly cross swords over jurisdiction with the government pleader in the open court.
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The inconsistency on the part of the VACB drew sharp criticism from the Bench. Administrative Reforms Commission chairman V.S. Achuthanandan publicly slammed the “blunder” as a deliberate attempt to save former Finance Minister K.M. Mani, the sole accused in the case. VACB Director Jacob Thomas reportedly told the Chief Minister that a break-up in communication between the directorate and the office of the Director General of Prosecution in Kochi had caused the error.
Mr. Vijayan did not “appear impressed” by his explanation. He openly “frowned upon” the “practice" of supervisory officers relegating complaints and inquiries to junior officers to shirk responsibility. Mr. Vijayan wanted them to critically examine complaints, inquiry reports and investigations and pen their comments/observations on official files and issue written orders on all matters so the processes were perceptible and transparent.
Mr. Vijayan said he would not brook any dilution of the Vigilance manual. Mr. Vijayan wanted to know why certain anti-corruption litigants appeared to have an “outsize” role in the agency and access to government files, a point raised by the High Court. The Chief Minister tasked Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Nalini Netto to file a detailed report.
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