Action taken against erring panchayats, Vigilance tells court

CHANDIGARH: About two years after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the constitution of teams for each district to scrutinise complaints regarding irregularities by gram panchayats, the state government has claimed that 94 of the 922 complaints received by the Vigilance Bureau (VB) till August 31 were probed.

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 20

About two years after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the constitution of teams for each district to scrutinise complaints regarding irregularities by gram panchayats, the state government has claimed that 94 of the 922 complaints received by the Vigilance Bureau (VB) till August 31 were probed.

Appearing before Justice Sudhir Mittal’s Bench, VB Director G Nageshwar submitted that all complaints being received by the Vigilance Bureau regarding irregularities by gram panchayats were being regularly scrutinised and processed.

Of the complaints received, 828 were referred to the Department of Panchayats as these were not “very serious” in nature. The rest (94) were investigated. As many as 27 complaints were disposed of by the registration of FIRs, registration of a Vigilance inquiry or by closure.

“The rest of the cases are still being enquired into and action will be taken as per the merits of each case,” Nageshwar told the Bench. He added that the order dated November 8, 2016, on examining complaints was being complied with in letter and spirit, although a report could not be filed periodically, as prescribed in the order, due to administrative exigencies.

The case has its genesis in a petition filed by Charanjit Singh against the State of Punjab and other respondents in 2016. He was seeking issuance of directions to respondents for initiation of criminal proceedings against a former sarpanch of a village in Kapurthala district and others regarding embezzlement of public funds.

Justice Fateh Deep Singh ordered the registration of an FIR on the petitioner’s complaint, adding that similar complaints might have been filed throughout Punjab against gram panchayats and department officials concerned. These may have been put in the deep freezer for “obvious reasons and motivated cause”. As such, it impelled the court to issue directions to the Director General of Police (Vigilance)/Director, Vigilance Bureau to constitute separate teams.