The Central Vigilance Commission observed the Vigilance Awareness Week 2023 from 30th October to 5th November, 2023 with the theme: “Say no to corruption; commit to the Nation” with the administering of the integrity pledge to the officials of the Commission. Every year Vigilance Awareness Week is observed as an outreach measure to create greater awareness about the importance of integrity and ethics in public life. All the government departments follow the line, but whether the integrity pledge has any positive effect in eliminating corruption ?The Chief Minister of Haryana always speaks on a high note when the issue of corruption is raised.
Almost on every Jan Samvad platform, Haryana Chief Minister, ManoharLalKhattar claims that his government has eliminated corruption and nepotism. He frequently reiterates that there was corruption and nepotism in the previous government, which our government has eliminated. Earlier the rights of the poor person were snatched. I assure you that now the injustice done to any poor person will not be tolerated, everyone will get justice and everyone will get their rights.
He generally alleges on every stage that Congress during its tenure had promoted three Cs (crime, corruption, caste-based politics) but as soon as we came to power, our government improved these systems by cracking down on corruption and ending caste-based politics.
On completion of his government’s nine-year term in office, Haryana Chief Minister, ManoharLalKhattar, on October 26,2023 said that in 2014, Haryana found itself in the grip of despair and mistrust. The state was grappling with myriad challenges, and a sense of disillusionment had settled among the people.
Addressing a press conference, the Chief Minister said that the state government’s significant achievements include a robust anti-corruption system that bolsters trust and redirects public resources for the people’s betterment. He said that in these 9 long years, nepotism and regionalism were replaced by a commitment to equitable development; ensuring resources are allocated based on need, fostering balanced opportunities.
Supporting Mr.Khattar’s claim of corruption elimination, the Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah while addressing the ‘AntyodayaMahasammelan’ organized on the occasion of completion of 9 years of the Government of Haryana, as the chief guest in Karnal on November 2, said that earlier there was a rule full of fear, hunger and corruption in Haryana and the law-and-order situation was bad. The previous governments here gave jobs to their own people by doing corruption in government recruitments, but the government led by ManoharLalKhattar gave jobs on the basis of merit and without any kind of corruption.
He alleged that the previous government was a government of Cut, Commission and Corruption. But the present BJP government has eliminated Corruption, nepotism and regionalism from Haryana during its two-tenure rule.
What the opposition leaders allege?
The General Secretary of the All-India Congress Committee, former Union Minister and Ex- State President of Haryana Congress Committee, Kumari Selja in a statement released to the media on November 8, alleges that the corruption is rapidly increasing in the BJP-JJP alliance government, leading to a continuous rise in corruption records for the state government. In reality, the state government has failed to control the increasing corruption every day in the state.
Kumari Selja says that the Alliance Government is appointing 15 Chief Vigilance Officers simultaneously, which is an unusual process in a democratic system. The appointment of such a large number of officers indicates that corruption has reached its peak.
KumariSelja further adds that even though there are vigilance officers in various departments in the state, corruption remains unchecked. Corruption is being encouraged in the state government based on the signals from the people present in the government. Revealing the recruitment of 15 CVOs in the Chief Secretary’s office is enough evidence to understand the current state of corruption in the state. Instead of appointing external CVOs, the state government should grant more power to its officers.
KumariSelja alleges that the leak of HPSC and HSSC papers, corruption in jobs, and officials accepting bribes are all evidence that jobs are not being given without money. Investigations related to the commission in PWD are ongoing. Scams like the paddy and wheat scandal in the Food and Supply Department, the liquor scandal in the Excise Department, the embezzlement of funds meant for the welfare of laborers in the Labor Department, and the registry scandal in the Tehsil have been discussed continuously.
The AamAadmi Party is also noticing corruption at its peak in Haryana.
Its Haryana State President, Dr.Sushil Gupta, in a statement issued on October 24, alleges that the first evil of the Haryana government is corruption, which is at its peak today and is continuously increasing. The Khattar government has broken all records in the matter of corruption.
How the facts defying the CM claim?
While celebrating 56th Haryana Day on 01 November, 2021 the Chief Minister, Mr.ManoharLalKhattar said that transparency in jobs is the main aim of his government. Complete transparency is being exercised in the recruitments being done by Haryana Staff Selection Commission and Haryana Public Service Commission. He claimed that the government has provided 83,000 government jobs over a period of 7 years without ‘Parchi- Kharchi’ (No Recommendation – No Bribe’.)
But just within two weeks the much-hyped slogan of ‘No-Parchi – No Kharchi’ dashed to ground when a mountainous multi-crore Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) scam of corruption in recruitment was unearthed and an FIR was lodged by the State Vigilance Bureau (now Anti-Corruption Bureau), on November 17, 2021, against Commission’s Deputy Secretary Anil Nagar and others. As per a report, published in the online edition of The Tribune on November 8, 2023, quoting the Enforcement Directorate (ED) citing a forensic report, the OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) sheets of 13 candidates for the Dental Surgeon recruitment test and 15 for the Haryana Civil Service (Executive Branch) preliminary examination conducted in 2021 were tampered with.
As per ED version reported in The Tribune, a total of Rs 3.30 crore was recovered, of it Rs 1.08 crore from Nagar’s room in the HPSC office and Rs 66 lakh was recovered from the residence of Nagar’s friend Ashish Kumar and his father SatishGarg, while another Rs 1.44 crore (belonging to Nagar) was surrendered by Ashish. Another Rs 12 lakh was recovered from Nagar’s house.
In an official release on November 8, 2023, the Director General of Police and DG of the Haryana Anti-Corruption Bureau, ShatrujeetKapur claims that by taking proactive steps this year, the Bureau has underlined its unwavering and steadfast commitment to providing corruption-free governance. But the figures show that despite the arduous efforts of the bureau to curb the corruption, the number of persons, involved in corruption, nabbed are increasing year by year. It shows that the official machinery has no fear of getting nabbed, reasons are best known to them.
However, the release confirms that the number of registered cases has significantly increased, with 140 trap cases registered by the Bureau from January to the end of October in 2023. In the same period this year, the Bureau arrested a total of 31 gazetted officers, 149 non-gazetted officers, and 30 individuals from the private sector. This reflects a substantial improvement compared to last year when 21 gazetted officers, 140 non-gazetted officers, and 26 private individuals were arrested during the same timeframe. Similarly, in 2021, the Bureau arrested 8 gazetted officers, 40 non-gazetted officers, and 49 private individuals during this period, indicating an increased vigilance against corrupt activities and a proactive approach in tackling corruption.
Increase in the number of fish caught in the net doesn’t reflect the efficiency of the fisherman alone, it also indicates that fish are increasing abundantly. More the fish – More the nabbing. Need of spreading the net for nabbing the corrupt through appointment of extra 15 CVOs clearly shows that the corruption is growing like unwanted weeds.
The Bureau shared some recent Notable Cases of corruption. The Bureau states — A corruption case involving government officials and private individuals in the Forest Department and Haryana State Warehousing Corporation is under investigation. Dilip Singh, a former Divisional Forest Officer in Haryana State Forest Department, CharkhiDadri, was found involved in corrupt activities and bribery of ₹300,000. Sunil Kumar, Deputy Forest Range, Badhra, CharkhiDadri, was also implicated in the corruption case.
A major corruption scandal surfaced in Haryana State Warehousing Corporation, Panchkula, involving a high-ranking government official and a private individual engaging in bribery amounting to ₹300,000. Jaiveer Singh, a senior IAS officer and managing director of Haryana State Warehousing Corporation, Panchkula.SandeepGhanghas, a manager at Haryana Warehousing Corporation, Panipat. Manish Sharma, a private individual.Rajesh Bansal, General Manager (Confed), Haryana State Warehousing Corporation, Panchkula. All these individuals face serious charges of bribery and corruption worth ₹300,000.
Additionally, as part of the anti-corruption drive, the Bureau has arrested 49 police officers for soliciting bribes ranging from ₹100,000 to ₹2,000 this year.
The release by the DGP claims this reflects the government’s commitment to eradicating corruption and maintaining transparency within its ranks. However, the campaign by the Haryana Anti-Corruption Bureau plays a crucial role in upholding the highest standards of governance and public service, but why are the efforts of the bureau not succeeding in hammering the corruption?
Why does the need for appointment of special Chief Vigilance Officers arise? Isn’t the recruitment of 15 CVOs in the Chief Secretary’s office enough evidence to understand the current state of corruption in the state, as alleged by KumariSelja?
Shouldn’t the allegation levelled by Congress leader KumariSelja that the corruption is rapidly increasing in the BJP-JJP alliance government, leading to a continuous rise in corruption records for the state government, be heeded seriously?
Despite all these steps by the state government and its agencies, why the corrupt persons are putting their service and credibility on stake, is the question which asks for the answer and why does the claim of the Chief Minister, Mr.Khattar of ‘Zero Tolerance to Corruption’ remain a hollow slogan? Now the CM will have to rethink the strategy being adopted to eliminate corruption to succeed in his mission of a corruption free state.
Jag Mohan Thaken is a Haryana based retired Senior Bank Manager, views are personal
