Haryana: Government 'whistleblowers' to examine reports of Vidhan Sabha, CAG

Pradeep Sharma

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Chandigarh ,November 15

The reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Vidhan Sabha committees and the Press will now be under the scanner of the government-appointed “whistleblower” Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs).

As part of its “zero tolerance to corruption” campaign, the Khattar government has appointed the CVOs for “meticulous scrutiny of reports from various sources, including internal auditors, CAG, Vidhan Sabha committees and the Press” in a bid to check corruption in governance.

Powers to investigate

• Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs) to identify cases of misappropriation, irregularities
• To keep Administrative Secretary, Special Secretary (Vigilance) and Chief Secretary in loop
• Can make inquiries, investigation after nod from Administrative Secretary

Terming the CVOs as government-appointed whistleblowers, a senior government functionary asserted that “their multifaceted role involved preventive vigilance functions, aiming to thwart corrupt practices by identifying potential corruption spots and sources.”

With that end in view, Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal has appointed serving and retired officers as CVOs, either on deputation or on contractual basis.

Currently, there is hardly any follow-up action on the reports of CAG, Vidhan Sabha committees and the Press. Though the government took cognisance of these reports, they continue to gather dust for years. However, the functionary said since the reports were prepared by the statutory bodies, the government would now get to the bottom of the allegations levelled in the reports.

The CVOs would keep the Administrative Secretary concerned, Special Secretary (Vigilance) and Chief Secretary in the loop while preparing reports about departmental functioning. “Special attention is to be given to areas prone to discretion or favoritism, such as the awarding of tenders, the progression of civil works, and instances of potential abuse of discretionary powers in decision-making processes,” it was highlighted.

Sources said the main aim of creating the new institutional mechanism was to identify instances of misappropriation of funds and financial irregularities to check corruption.After getting a tip-off regarding any irregularity, the CVO has been authorised to initiate further inquiry or investigation after approval from the Administrative Secretary concerned.

The CVO has also been mandated to compile a list of “Officers of Doubtful Integrity”.

20 designated as inquiry officers

The state government has empanelled 20 officers for conducting departmental inquiries under the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment and Appeals) Rules, 2016. They include Sunil Kumar Gulati, former IAS officer; Sat Parkash, former IPS officer; PK Goel, Manoj Bansal, Tarsem Kumar Gupta, Ram Kishan Sharma, Arun Kumar Goyal, Rakesh Manocha, Rakesh Jolly and Thakuar Dass, all former chief engineers; Parminder Pal Singh and Jagdish Khushdil, both retired District and Sessions judges; and Parveen Garg and Narender Kumar Arora, both retired Director-General of Health Services.