News Analysis India

Tag: CVC

  • CBI lodges 110 graft cases against 166 senior officers in 5 years

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Law-enforcing agencies, including the CBI, has registered corruption cases against over 100 civil services officers in the last five years. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has also recommended actions against a large number of officers.

    According to data with the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance and Pension, the government has registered 110 corruption cases against 166 civil service officers (mostly IAS and senior state officers) between 2018 and February 28, 2023 through CBI alone.

    “Between 2018 and February 28, 2023, Maharashtra has registered the highest number of 35 cases against the civil service officers  for their alleged involvements in “unethical professional” practices, like bribery and taking undue benefits with the use  of their power and position. After Maharashtra, J&K registered the second highest number of 18 cases”, the government data showed, which has been accessed by this newspaper.

    Karnataka registered 14 cases of corruption, while Uttar Pradesh lodged 13 cases against their civil service officers during the same period. Besides, the ministry had recently informed the Rajya Sabha that the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) recommended actions against 6,367 government officers from 2017 to 2021 for their involvements in corrupt practices. The data further shows, the CVC recommended for the criminal proceedings against 433 out of 6,367 officers.

    According to one estimate, the total number of major and minor penalties and other actions taken during the said period were 8,794. This is in addition to 817 sanctions for prosecutions ordered by the competent authorities against corrupt government officers, including civil servants.

    A senior officer of IAS here, preferring anonymity, said that cases of corruption are being registered against civil service officers at a time when the country has a shortage of 850 IAS officers in particular to touch the sanctioned strength.

    “Currently, there are 5317 IAS officers in position in India against sanctioned strength of 6789. UP faces the highest shortage of 67 IAS offices to meet the sanction strength of 378, followed by Maharashtra with a shortage of 57 IAS officers”, the government adapt shows.

    NEW DELHI: Law-enforcing agencies, including the CBI, has registered corruption cases against over 100 civil services officers in the last five years. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has also recommended actions against a large number of officers.

    According to data with the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance and Pension, the government has registered 110 corruption cases against 166 civil service officers (mostly IAS and senior state officers) between 2018 and February 28, 2023 through CBI alone.

    “Between 2018 and February 28, 2023, Maharashtra has registered the highest number of 35 cases against the civil service officers  for their alleged involvements in “unethical professional” practices, like bribery and taking undue benefits with the use  of their power and position. After Maharashtra, J&K registered the second highest number of 18 cases”, the government data showed, which has been accessed by this newspaper.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Karnataka registered 14 cases of corruption, while Uttar Pradesh lodged 13 cases against their civil service officers during the same period. Besides, the ministry had recently informed the Rajya Sabha that the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) recommended actions against 6,367 government officers from 2017 to 2021 for their involvements in corrupt practices. The data further shows, the CVC recommended for the criminal proceedings against 433 out of 6,367 officers.

    According to one estimate, the total number of major and minor penalties and other actions taken during the said period were 8,794. This is in addition to 817 sanctions for prosecutions ordered by the competent authorities against corrupt government officers, including civil servants.

    A senior officer of IAS here, preferring anonymity, said that cases of corruption are being registered against civil service officers at a time when the country has a shortage of 850 IAS officers in particular to touch the sanctioned strength.

    “Currently, there are 5317 IAS officers in position in India against sanctioned strength of 6789. UP faces the highest shortage of 67 IAS offices to meet the sanction strength of 378, followed by Maharashtra with a shortage of 57 IAS officers”, the government adapt shows.

  • Follow guidelines to obtain documents from CBI in corruption cases: CVC to government departments, banks

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on Wednesday asked central government departments, public sector banks and insurance companies to follow existing guidelines for obtaining relevant documents from the CBI for initiating and timely completion of departmental action against corrupt employees.

    The move comes after it noticed that departmental inquiries in a few instances were held up or slowed down due to non-availability of listed documents or delay in procuring/producing them during the course of inquiry.

    One of the reasons stated for delay in producing documents during inquiry proceedings, is that in cases investigated by CBI, the original documents remain in the custody of the probe agency, it said.

    The CVC in its order referred to its earlier directive that says “it should be ensured that the listed documents are obtained from the CBI before issuing the chargesheet and, where parallel proceedings are to be initiated, a set of listed documents, dully certified, is obtained from the CBI”.

    Further, in Para 6.9 (d) of Vigilance Manual 2021, it has been clarified that in respect of documents, which are taken in custody by CBI, “the departmental authorities may keep attested copies of the records for meeting urgent departmental needs or for disposing of any action that may be pending on the part of the department”, the Commission said.

    Moreover, in para 6.9 (n) and 6.9 (o) of Vigilance Manual 2021, the procedure for obtaining documents from CBI, for the purpose of initiating departmental action has been clearly defined and enlisted, it said in an order issued to secretaries of all central government departments, chief executives of public sector banks and insurance companies.

    “The Commission has directed that the above guidelines should be kept in mind for obtaining required documents from CBI, so that the inquiry proceedings do not suffer delay on this account,” it said, seeking strict compliance of its order.

  • Lok Sabha passes NaBFID Bill; commercial decision-making kept out of CVC, CBI, CAG purview

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the development finance institution (DFI) being set up to fund the infrastructure sector will remain outside the purview of the CAG, CVC and CBI, a move aimed at enabling faster decision-making.

    The DFI, called the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID), however is going to be answerable to Parliament.

    The Lok Sabha later passed the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) Bill 2021 with voice vote.

    Replying to the debate on the Bill, the finance minister said, “It will be absolutely answerable to the Parliament. So we are not going to one extreme. Where there is no oversight at all, but that heavy fear of taking decisions as a result of overlapping oversight is now being given space wherein legitimate commercial decisions can be taken professionally.”

    Market watchers say genuine bonafide decisions in the banking sector are being impacted because of the worry of undue harassment by the ‘3Cs — Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and Comptroller and Audit General (CAG).

    Sitharaman also clarified that the government will be able to give sovereign guarantee even if its stake reduces to 26 per cent because it is not linked to stake but to the legislation.

    The government intends to bring down its stake in NaBFID from 100 per cent to 26 per cent once the institution stabilises.

    She also said the government will provide Rs 5,000 crore as grant and Rs 20,000 crore equity capital.

    This government-owned development finance institution will help fund about 7,000 infra projects under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP).

    The legislation will give effect to the Budget announcement made by the finance minister on February 1.

    The government has proposed Rs 20,000 crore to capitalise the institution.

    The Union Cabinet had last week approved the Budget proposal of setting up the DFI, which will have tax benefits to enable fund raising from investors.

    The government expects the DFI to leverage this fund to raise up to Rs 3 lakh crore in the next few years.

    The Bill seeks to establish the NaBFID to support the development of long term non-recourse infrastructure financing in India, including development of the bonds and derivatives markets necessary for infrastructure financing.

    As per the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill, it seeks to enable the central government, multilateral institutions, sovereign wealth funds, and such other institutions to hold equity in the NaBFID.

    It proposes to enable the institution to provide financial assistance to infrastructure projects located in India or partly in the country and to enable the company to borrow or raise money by way of loans both in rupees and foreign currencies.

    It also provide adequate safeguards for decision making to address risk aversion and proposes establishment of other development financial institutions, in addition to the NaBFID established under the proposed legislation.

    “The Institution shall have both developmental and financial objectives. Among other things, this would include developing a deep and liquid bond market of international standards for long-term infrastructure financing in India including through widening of the issuer and investor base,” it said.

    It would also facilitate the development of markets for interest rate derivatives, credit derivatives, currency derivatives and such other innovative financial instruments as may be necessary for infrastructure financing, it said.

    “The financing objectives would involve establishing a credible framework that attracts equity investments from domestic and global institutional investors as well as debt investments, including green finance, from investors, aligned to their risk appetite and asset-liability profile, in order to cater the financing needs of Indian infrastructure sector,” it said.

    The government will provide the institution with grants and contributions, guarantees at concessional rates for foreign borrowings and any other concessions, the Bill said, adding that dilution or sale of stake may be considered once the NaBFID has achieved stability and scale.

    The Bill proposes to establish the head office of the institution in Mumbai and permits to form subsidiaries or joint ventures or branches, in India or outside.

    The Centre would hold at least 26 per cent of the shares at all times, it said, adding concessional rate of fees should not exceeding 0.1 per cent for government guarantee.

    The performance of the institution would, once in every five years, be reviewed by an external agency to be appointed by the central government, it said.

    In her Budget 2019-20 speech, Sitharaman had proposed a study for setting up DFIs for promoting infrastructure funding.

    About 7,000 projects have been identified under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) with a projected investment of Rs 111 lakh crore during 2020-25.

    NIP, a first-of-its-kind initiative to provide world-class infrastructure across the country and improve the quality of life for all citizens, will be crucial for attaining the target of becoming a USD 5 trillion economy by FY 2025.