Gurugram: His critics name it a gimmick whereas the Haryana authorities’s media secretary vouch for the steps taken to examine corruption in governance and administration. A greater than three-fold soar in graft circumstances has seemingly prompted CM Manohar Lal Khattar to recommend that boards be put up exterior authorities places of work and in public locations to call and disgrace corrupt officers.
In a video clip shared by him through which he addresses senior police and administrative brass officers, together with the chief secretary and the DGP, at Panchkula on Worldwide Anti-Corruption Day (9 Dec), Khattar additional proposes such departments may even title corrupt officers after their retirement in order that they function a warning to the serving workers.
विभाग के सबसे अधिक भ्रष्ट कर्मचारी का नाम बोर्ड पर लिखकर कार्यालयों और पब्लिक प्लेस पर लगा दिया जाए,
ताकि दूसरों के मन में भी ये बात फिट हो जाए कि भ्रष्टाचार किया तो उनका नाम भी उसी बोर्ड पर लगा दिया जाएगा।#InternationalAntiCorruptionDay pic.twitter.com/qV0AYtTxHb
— Manohar Lal (@mlkhattar) December 9, 2023
In keeping with the Nationwide Crime Data Bureau (NCRB) report for 2022, Haryana reported 246 circumstances underneath the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), and associated sections of the IPC final yr as in opposition to 57 circumstances in 2020 and 79 circumstances in 2021.
Of the 39 graft circumstances through which trials had been accomplished, the accused had been acquitted in 24 circumstances, 2 others had been discharged and solely 13 circumstances resulted in conviction — a conviction fee of 33.3 %. As many as 393 circumstances had been pending within the courts by the top of 2022 with a pendency fee of 90.8 %.
Praveen Attrey, media secretary to the Haryana authorities, nevertheless, mentioned that ever since Khattar took over the reins in 2014, he initiated steps to finish corruption from the governance and the administration.
Attrey instructed ThePrint that minimising human interface within the administration by the introduction of expertise was step one in direction of ending corruption. “Today, hundreds of government-related works of people, including the transfer of employees are done online. People just have to apply on portals for that.”
The Khattar authorities has a zero-tolerance coverage in direction of corruption and in the course of the previous two years particularly, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested a number of senior officers, together with some from the IAS, on corruption expenses, he added.
Attrey contended that the upper variety of circumstances registered underneath the PCA and associated IPC offences means that the ACB has cracked down on the corrupt officers in a much bigger manner.
Khattar’s predecessor and Congress chief Bhupinder Singh Hooda had a suggestion for the chief minister. “First of all, Khattar should end corruption in his government. Corruption is so rampant in the government that no work is possible without paying money. The talks of writing names of the corrupt officials are just empty words and lack sincerity,” Hooda instructed The Print Tuesday.
As Khattar’s ministerial colleagues had been drowned deep in corruption, he alleged, the CM’s sermons would sound hole to the officers.
P.P. Kapoor, an RTI activist who has been unearthing corruption within the authorities equipment for the previous a number of years, puzzled what stopped Khattar from implementing his personal proposals.
“Had someone else said what Khattar said it would have been understandable. But Khattar is the CM of Haryana. If he means to end corruption by shaming the corrupt officials, all he has to do is issue a written order. However, rather than issuing any such order, he has chosen to talk about this in his speech. This is nothing more than an eyewash,” Kapoor instructed The Print Tuesday.
Equally, political analyst Pawan Kumar Bansal felt that the CM’s suggestion was obscure and lacked sincerity. “The most important issue is how do you identify the most corrupt official. In the late 90s, the IAS Officers’ Association of Uttar Pradesh started a process to identify the most corrupt officer among them. However, the exercise resulted in the division of the association,” he mentioned.
Just like the RTI activist, Bansal asserted that he ought to have gone forward by implementing orders moderately than sermonising officers.
Sarva Karamchari Sangh president Dharambir Phogat, who represents the pursuits of Group C and D authorities staff, mentioned that the organisation would help Khattar if he was severe about what he mentioned on Worldwide Anti-Corruption Day.
“… what we are observing for the past nine years (is) there are only talks of fighting corruption, while its scourge has been increasing day by day. Today, people sitting on high posts are more into corruption,” Phogat alleged.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Additionally Learn: Hooda alleges ‘betiyan unsafe’ in Khattar’s Haryana. Right here’s what NCRB knowledge says