RTI: Govt does not know 'ABC' of ACB's jurisdiction

With Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal emphasising time and again that he wants to weed out corruption from the system, the Government is clueless about the jurisdiction of its Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) in the national Capital. This fact has been revealed by an RTI.In its reply to a RTI filed by advocate Vivek Garg, the Principal Information Officer (PIO) of the Vigilance Department said no information was available in the ACB about its jurisdiction.  

Also, the Government said it has no information about the types of corruption cases it can investigate. It may be noted that the Delhi Government had earlier claimed that the ACB is the part of Directorate of Vigilance.On the question of rule under which the ACB can investigate the corruption of Central Government employees and Ministers, the Government said no such information was available with the ACB.  The Government even failed to provide certified copies of the proposals prepared, passed and rejected by the ACB from December 10, 2013 till date.

About the certified copies of notes for council of Ministers, office memorandums and Minister’s notes sent for the ACB, the RTI reply said, “No such information is available in the A.C. Branch.” The government could not even provide information about the ACB’s annual budget and how much it was likely to increase.

While replying to the RTI, the Government said the ACB registered 22 FIRs from February 10 onwards and arrested 40 people.On the number of complaints related to corruption, other than the calls received by its 1031  helpline,  which have been registered by the ACB, the Government said as many as 77 complaints  had been received by the anti-graft body  from February 10 to June 22. It said the complaints other than the corruption had been referred to the Chief Vigilance Officer and other concerned departments.