Chandigarh: The Haryana government has decided to take strict action against corruption in government offices in the state. To crack down on corrupt officials and employees, the state government has made a new rule for the extension given to employees at the age of 50 and 55 years and such officers and employees will be reviewed before getting extension at the age of 50 and 55 years and if any case of corruption is found against anyone, the government will not give him extension and he will be forcibly retired from the service. The government has already started this practice in the state, and has banned the extension of the Group-B officer of the Revenue Department. The retirement orders of the officers involved in corrupt practices will be issued soon. A strict campaign in this regard has been started by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in the state.
Information reveals, on an average, every second day some officer or employee is being arrested on charges of bribery in the state. Before taking a decision on the extension in service, their annual confidential report (ACR) along with the confidential report will also be made the basis. Recently, the government had forced HCS officers to retire, since many allegations were leveled against him as such the government had taken the tough decision to retire him. Similarly, in the new rules, the extension of one of the three Group-B officers has been stopped. Lokpal is an anti-corruption body responsible for looking into corruption complaints at the national level. The Lokpal movement in India was spearheaded by activist Anna Hazare, with his Jan Lokpal movement in 2011. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act was passed by the parliament in 2013. In 2019, retired Supreme Court judge Pinaki Chandra Ghose was appointed as the first Lokpal of India.
During his tenure, the former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that between January 1, 2015 and November 30, 2023, Haryana registered 1,536 corruption cases. The Anti-Corruption Bureau recorded 1,140 cases, while the Haryana Police reported 396 cases, averaging a new case every two days. The district wise cases of corruption registered by ACB during the period 1st January 2015 to 30.11.2023 were identified as 48 cases in Ambala, 49 in Bhiwani,, 8 in Charkhi Dadri, 101 in Faridabad, 43 in Fatehabad, 99 in Gurugram, 83 in Hisar, 46 in Jhajjar,69 in Jind, 48 in Kaithal, 66 in Karnal, 36 in Kurukshetra, 44 in Mewat, 34 in Narnaul, 35 in Palwal, 42 in Panchkula, 51 in Panipat, 36 in Rewari, 53 in Rohtak, 42 in Sirsa, 71 in Sonipat, 36 in Yamunanagar apart from total number of 396 corruption cases registered by various police stations across the state followed by the revenue department with 245 cases, the electricity department with 130 cases, and the education department with 51 cases. Faridabad had the highest number of registered corruption cases, followed by Gurgaon, Sonipat, Hisar and Karnal.
