HC bats for appointing permanent vigilance chief to root out corruption

Madurai: Every government has been declaring that they are against corruption, however, the reality has been otherwise, Madras high court observed while stating that corruption is deep-rooted everywhere, which can be eradicated by dedicated and consistent action. The court said that it can be achieved only by strengthening the vigilance commission and the vigilance and anti corruption department, and asked the government to appoint an independent vigilance commissioner.Justice B Pugalendhi observed that the State Vigilance Commission is headed by the vigilance commissioner, who shall advise the government on major administrative challenges, prevention of corruption in public services in general and the manner in which individual cases of corruption that are brought to light should be dealt with.However, there is no regular/ permanent vigilance commissioner in the state and a senior officer heading the major and sensitive department is holding the post as an additional post. The government, which aims for corruption-free governance, in the opinion of this court, shall have an independent vigilance commissioner, wholly concentrating on the commission’s functioning, the judge observed.The judge observed that tribunals function under the administrative control of the commissioner, and that person shall be responsible for reviewing and monitoring the inquiries pending before the tribunals. Therefore, cases of corruption and those combined with other charges are referred to the tribunals. It appears that there are 27 inquiries pending for more than five years in the tribunals, eight are pending for more than four years and 34 are pending for more than three years. Therefore, priority has to be given to the old cases.The cases related to corruption have to be viewed seriously and have to be dealt with utmost care. The pendency of the cases before these tribunals for disciplinary proceedings needs to be addressed by the vigilance commissioner. The tribunals have to be headed by the judicial officers in the rank of district judge, as provided under Rule 3(2) of the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Disciplinary Proceedings Tribunal) Rules, 1955 or by the IAS officers. A separate vigilance commissioner is the need of this hour to monitor the vigilance cases effectively, observed Justice Pugalendhi.The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by delinquent officers facing disciplinary proceedings which are pending before various tribunals for years together. The common grievance of the petitioners, who are facing disciplinary proceedings before the tribunals is that there is a delay in concluding the proceedings before the tribunal, which is in violation of the GO issued by the human resources management department in 2022. The court disposed of the petitions by directing the tribunals to conclude the proceedings by fixing specific time limits.