Acting on the complaints regarding officers of the revenue department indulging in rampant corruption, Dehradun Additional District Magistrate Harveer Singh carried out a surprise check at the revenue office, Sadar (civil) in the city on Tuesday.
While expressing dissatisfaction over public documents pending in the department for past many years, he asked the revenue officers to work more efficiently, while also citing the handsome salary they are receiving from the State Government. He made it clear that corruption among the officers would be stamped out with a heavy hand.
Mentioning the Monday’s incident of a vigilance team having caught a class IV employee of the revenue department while accepting bribe of Rs 2,500 for making domicile certificate, he dubbed it as shameful. “It is highly condemnable that the officers are sitting on things, insisting on bribes to be paid for works they are bound to do,” he said. He said he had been surprised to learn that works pertaining to making domicile certificates and maintaining record books are being made to hang fire for months.
He cited the instance of the wife of Sumer Chand who died on March 1, 2015 being made to wait for over two years regarding her application to replace her husband’s name with hers in the revenue record book. “I had cleared the file myself,” he said.
While acknowledging the aspects cited by the official on the occasion, observers also point out that in majority of the cases those who face legal action or are caught in the act of accepting bribes are small fry compared to the public servants and politicians at the higher level who are involved in similar cases of much large proportions but rarely face stern official action.