The Hindu : Judge panel on quality of its work: CVC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 30, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Judge panel on quality of its work: CVC

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Dec. 29. The Central Vigilance Commissioner, P.Shankar, has said that his organisation should be judged on the basis of the quality of work it turned out and not the quantity of cases it has dealt with.

Addressing the Bank Economists' Conference, which concluded here today, Mr. Shankar said that he was for going after those who were really bad and was for protecting innocent persons. "If the number of cases comes down, we are happy." He stressed the role of the CVC as a vigilante organisation, more than that of a body set up to put down corruption. At the same time, the former Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary who became the CVC in September succeeding N.Vittal, said: "We cannot be goody-goody. We have to trap erring officials." If there was a feeling of being too tolerant, the answer was "no." He cited the recent case of how following a tip-off, the CBI trapped an official who was found carrying an unaccounted sum of Rs. 52 lakh in a train. They were acting also on complaints received on e-mail.

He noted that cases were being brought before the commission from banks and other institutions after internal inquiries by the Vigilance Department, the disciplinary boards, and the CEOs. In 99 per cent of the cases, the commission only endorsed the opinion reached by the internal inquiry authorities. He also conceded that banking operations involved risk taking and it could not be lost sight of.

Mr. Shankar advised the public sector banks to set up small groups of honest officers to advise the chairmen in cases of deviant action by their officials. That was a better mechanism than looking to an outside body such as the CVC. They should also develop simple rules of the thumb to judge the actions of officers. The CVC said that while being dynamic, the banks should not give up their innate conservatism, the system of controls and inspections. However, if the rules were found to be a hindrance, they should be changed and updated. He noted that some of the public sector organisations blamed the CVC for the losses being incurred by them.

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