Stating that the conviction percentage in Vigilance cases has reached a record 46 per cent this year, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday said the Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan Governments have enacted a similar legislation in the line of the Odisha Special Courts Act.
“Odisha is the first State in the country to enact the Special Courts Act for quick disposal of corruption cases against the persons holding high political and public offices. Under this Act, two special courts have been established at Bhubaneswar and Cuttack,” said the Chief Minister while speaking at a meeting marking the beginning of the Vigilance Awareness Week here.
The Chief Minister said that so far, 176 cases of corruption have been transferred to the Special Courts for expeditious trial while 20 accused persons holding high public offices have been convicted.
He informed that fully functional Vigilance Unit offices have been made operational in each district including a new Vigilance Division in the tribal district of Koraput while as many as 15 Special Vigilance Courts spread throughout the State have been established for expeditious trial of corruption cases. In the last five years, 503 public servants have been convicted by the Vigilance Courts while 137 public servants have been dismissed from service on grounds of corruption, he said.
Appreciating the Central Vigilance Commission’s theme ‘Combating corruption: Technology as an Enabler’ for this year’s Vigilance Awareness Week, Patnaik said portal ‘Odisha online’ has been introduced to provide public services to facilitate online payment of electricity bills, water bills, etc.
“Other services like payment of holding tax, trade licence and issue of birth and death certificates will soon be available through this online portal,” said Patnaik.
Speaking on the occasion, Director of Vigilance KB Singh said awareness campaign would be orgasnied particularly for the marginalised sections of people during the week.
local MP Prasanna Patasani and Chief Secretary GC Pati also spoke.