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Institutional set-up for fighting
corruption in India:
Recent changes and theireffectiveness
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Relevant constitutional provisions
Police: State subject. Any criminal offencecommitted in a state can only be investigated
by the agencies of state govt. Criminal law: Concurrent subject. Both the
central & state governments have jurisdiction
Implies the central govt. agencies have totake concurrence of the state government forinvestigating a corruption offence
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Anti- corruption institutions of the
central government
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1987
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)
Chief Vigilance Officers (CVO s) invarious ministries and organizations
Civil service conduct rules
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Prevention of Corruption Act, 1987
Existed earlier, revised in 1987
A very broad definition of public servants, to
whom it applies In case of conviction, imprisonment from 6
months to 7 years
Any one with assets disproportionate to his
income commits criminal misconduct Members of legislatures are covered,
according to the Supreme Court
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Central Bureau of Investigation
A police organization
Can take up investigation of an offence
only if the concerned state governmentpermits it to.
In practice, blanket permission by the
states to investigate corruption offencesby central government employees
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Central Bureau of Investigation
(continued) Supreme Court/High Courts often ask
CBI to investigate particular cases,
under PIL Initially set up as an anti-corruption
agency. Now takes up all sorts of case-heinous crimes, terrorism etc.
Most of the senior officers drawn fromstate governments for 5 years
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Central Vigilance Commission
(CVC) Set up in 1964 as the apex organization for
maintaining probity in public life
Causes complaints to be enquired into Monitors/conducts disciplinary proceedings
involving corruption
Prior to 1998, not much teeth
Advising not binding on the government,however disagreement cases mentioned inannual report, placed before parliament
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Chief Vigilance Officers (CVO s)
Each ministry/organization has a CVO,appointed after clearance from the CVC
The CVO reports (for most matters) to theCVC
Monitors and takes action on irregularities inthe organization, and reports them to the
CVC All cases of suspected corruption referred to
him
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Conduct Rules (some examples
relating to the higher civil service) Intimation about all moveable/immoveable
property required at the time of joining civilservice
No acquisition of immoveable propertywithout previous knowledge of govt.
Every transaction exceeding Rs. 15000
($300) to be informed of within a month Annual return in respect of immoveable
property
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Conduct Rules (continued)
Can accept gifts from friends andrelatives on special occasions, within
Rs. 5000 ($100) No speculation in stocks/shares
And no conduct unbecoming of a
government servant
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Set-up in the state governments
Parallel to the central government
Role of CBI played by vigilance wing of
the state police
Role of CVC by the state vigilancebureaus/ombudsman
No functionary equivalent to CVO s ofthe central government
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Major problems prior to 1998
CBI not really independent. The govt. couldbring in new officers, or shift out inconvenient
ones, at will Nothing at the disposal of CVC to enable it to
exercise authority. It could not ask the CBI toinvestigate an alleged offence
Single Directive: No investigation could bestarted against officers above a certain level
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Major problems (continued)
Sanction for prosecution: permission ofgovernment needed before actual trial
began. No time limit. Slow investigation (sometimes)
Slow disposal of cases in courts: the
guilty never got punished
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Supreme Court directions
Directions issued in a public interest case,seeking investigation against certain high
functionaries of the government Recommendations of a govt. committee
adopted by the court
CVC to be made statutory
Single directive struck down (violated thefundamental right to equality)
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Supreme Court directions
(continued)
Time limit fixed for sanction for prosecution
CBI to report to CVC for corruption cases
Chief Vigilance Commissioner to beappointed by a committee with the leader ofopposition as a member
CBI Director, and other senior officers to beappointed (deputed) by a committee headedby the CVC
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Supreme Court directions
(continued)
CVC could now cause specificcomplaints to be investigated by CBI
Fixed tenure of 2 years for Director, CBI
Independent prosecution agency to beset up
In general the CBI to be freed fromextraneous influence of any kind
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Present status of implementation of
Supreme Courts directions
Except for the giving of statutory statusto the CVC, all other directions have
been implementedA bill to confer statutory status on the
CVC is pending in parliament
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Effect of the changes?
The CBI definitely has much moreindependence. There have been instances of
the govt. wanting to shift out officers but notsucceeding
The CVC now plays a more important role. Ithas the services of CBI at its disposal
However, there is not much change in thedisposal of work by the CBI. Not muchchange in the investigations completed
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Effect (continued)
There is no significant improvement in the no.of CBI cases disposed of in courts
The major cases are still not disposed of; foreg. Bofors, HDW Submarine case etc.
No changes in states. Far more important asthe states employ a lot more civil servants
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What more needs to be done
Similar changes are required in the states.The situation there is much more alarming.
For example the average conviction rate inanti-corruption cases there: 30%, comparedto CBIs 70%
The Supreme Court had asked the center to
advise the states in this regard. The advicehas not been heeded
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What more needs to be done
(continued)
The procedure for disciplinaryproceedings needs much simplification.
At present there are multiple stages andtoo much opportunity to the accused todefend himself
In cases of promotion, the procedure forvigilance clearance should be clearlydefined
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What more needs to be done
(continued)
Urgent need to set up special courts.States have to do this
The rule that those whose performanceis not up to the mark can be retired after50 should be used to weed out the
corrupt
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THE END