New Delhi: In its latest annual report, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) said that home affairs ministry employees made up the largest target of complaints it received in 2022.
Of a total of 1,15,203 complaints it received against Union government employees, the CVC said that 46,643 (~41%) were against home affairs ministry employees.
The railways sector was at a distant second with 10,580 (9%) complaints against its employees.“Banks” employees were a source of 8,129 complaints, the Delhi government of 7,370 and “Coal” of 4,304.
Interestingly, the CVC is an apex anti-corruption agency that oversees the vigilance administration of Union government organisations.
Established in the spirit that the “administration [cannot] be a judge of its own conduct”, the CVC is not controlled by any Union ministry and is responsible only to parliament.
Notably, among other functions, it provides ‘vigilance clearances’ to certain senior government officials and processes complaints against government employees, following which it communicates its advice on action to be taken in appropriate cases.
However, the commission said in its most recent annual report that there had been “significant deviations” or non-compliance with its advice.
“In some cases of officers covered under the Commission’s jurisdiction, either the prescribed consultation mechanism with the Commission was not adhered to, or the authorities concerned did not accept the Commission’s advice,” it stated in the report.
“Further, there have been instances where the advice tendered by the Commission has been substantially diluted without approaching the Commission for reconsideration of its advice, as per extant procedure,” it continued to say.
One example the CVC gave of improper following of procedure with its advice was the delaying of taking action against some delinquent officers.
“Some organisations take more than the prescribed time for implementation of Commission’s advice which includes delay in issuance of charge sheet. Sometimes, the delinquent officer is allowed to retire, and the misconduct becomes time barred for initiation of departmental action,” the watchdog said.
In one of the appendices to its annual report, the commission recorded the type of punishment that was given to government employees from various sectors following penalty proceedings in 2022.
As for the Union home affairs ministry, the commission said that the following punishments were given to its employees after major penalty proceedings:
Photo: cvc.gov.in
A majority of employees in these cases had no action taken against them, unspecified “major penalties” handed out, or were given warnings.
And the following are the results of minor proceedings against home affairs employees:
No action was taken against employees in the vast majority of minor penalty proceedings.
The Union home affairs ministry is currently led by BJP leader Amit Shah.
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