Vigilance sitting tight over several cases

[karira]

As reported by ENS in newindpress.com on 7 July 2008:
Vigilance sitting tight over several cases - Newindpress.com

Vigilance sitting tight over several cases

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Three months is the time specified by the state government to complete an inquiry by the Vigilance Department in a complaint.

Keeping this order (GO P 18/97/Vigi) a mute witness, the Vigilance Department has been keeping hundreds of cases in its red ribbon covered files.

A peep into the pending files at the Vigilance unearthed some shocking statistics. In January this year, there had been 72 cases and 71 Vigilance inquiries pending for more than five years.

A year ago, the respective figures were 77 and 76. The number of cases with a pendency less than five years and more than three months will be several times of this figure.

"Justice delayed is justice denied." Many of these cases involve small scale corruption charges against low ranking officials.

But, as there is no end to these cases, the employees have to live a life full of tension," said Human Rights activist Jomon Puthenpurackal who had obtained statistics from the Vigilance Department under the Right to Information Act.

The Vigilance also informed Jomon that among the 31 culprits in the 24 trap cases registered in 2007, only 8 are gazetted officers.

"This also points to the double standard of the Vigilance. The big fishes are always exempted while the smaller ones got caught," said Jomon.

In all, 126 Vigilance cases were registered in the state in 2007 of which inquiry into 13 cases had been completed. Around 100 of the 379 Vigilance inquiries ordered in 2007 had been completed.