In a bid to keep an eye on 'corrupt' officers, the eight vigilance teams formed by the Arvind Kejriwal Government have been sitting idle as there is no clarity on the work allocation and no one is willing to take up their new assignments.
The vigilance officials are worried a lot as they are being asked to spy on their colleagues and they are being told to do a job which is assigned to Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) or police. The vigilance officers are lobbying to get them transferred from the new assignment.
Taking a note of the problem being faced by eight vigilance officials, Principal Secretary (vigilance) Chetan B Sanghi has convened a meeting of newly appointed vigilance officials on Friday to discuss ways on evolving an effective mechanism to curb corruption in the National Capital.
Sanghi is likely to discuss in detail the role of each Vigilance Officer, of the rank of special or additional secretary, to keep an effective tab on the Government's 60-odd departments. Top sources told The Pioneer that eight newly-appointed vigilance officers are a worried lot and they are trying their best to get transfer order from new assignment as there is no clarity on the work allocation pertaining to new vigilance team and they are clueless about their work till date. Secondly, they are clarity of standard operating procedure of the new vigilance team. Third is that how they would be protected from law if any one approaches the court of law against their action.
A newly-appointed vigilance officer said on the condition of anonymity that they are reluctant to carry out their new tasks as they feared that it could spoil their relations with their fellow officials. "The officers know if they order any inquiry against any officer, the matter will land up in court and they will have to attend hearings till the same is disposed off. The job of vigilance comes under either Anti Corruption Bureau or Delhi police".
The Government had recently appointed the Vigilance Officers reportedly in order to set up a parallel Anti-Corruption Branch to keep tab on the corrupt officers in the city administration. Ever since Joint Commissioner of Police MK Meena was appointed as the ACB head by lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung against the wishes of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Government had been making all out efforts to strengthen its Vigilance Wing.
The AAP Government has appointed eight vigilance officer including Special Commissioner Food and Supplies SB Shashank, Secretary (DSSSB) and Special Commissioner (Industries) Ajay Kumar Garg, Additional Secretary (North DMC) VK Beniwal, Former Director Informatin & Publicity FO Hashmi, Commissioner (Trade and Taxes) DK Mishra, Special Secretary Bl Sharma, Special Secretary (Finance) DP Dwivedi and Special Secretary ZU Siddiqui to look into 60 departments of Delhi Government.
According to order, issued by the AAP government, the Vigilance Officers would handle only vigilance related complaints and would not be tasked with any other departmental work. It had directed that officers deputed in the vigilance wing should not be given any other work by any department so that they could fully concentrate on their vigilance monitoring.