Srinagar: The state Vigilance Commissioner (SVC) Friday sought details from the State Vigilance Organization (SVO) about the corruption cases that have been closed by it during the current year.

“There were reports that during the current year certain cases were closed. We were cautious of the fact that commission was not effectively functional after the retirement of chief vigilance commissioner. I think it was less than half a dozen cases which were closed. In this context we have asked the Director Vigilance to provide us information,”, Gupta told a local news gathering agency here.

Gupta said that SVC has a mandate of exercising and supervision of FIR cases and enquiries conducted by SVO.

“We will monitor the enquiries being conducted by departmental vigilance officers,” he said.

He also appealed the people to come forward with suggestions, complaints to root out corruption from the system.

He said that the disposal of complaints have to be expedited. “All organizations have to be involved in the process,” he said. He said that the departments will be directed to implement the recommendations of the SVC.

 In one of its recommendations, the anti-graft body has asked the government to install CCTV cameras at all offices having large public interface. The departments were asked that the recordings should be preserved for minimum period of six months which should be periodically examined by a committee headed by a senior officer.

“I will look into it whether the SVC had recommended installation of CCTV cameras,” he said.

 He said they will make efforts to ensure transparency in departments having large public interface. “There should be transparency in those departments which are prone to corruption,” he added.

He said they received around two dozen complaints during sittings on 22nd and 23rd of November, 2017 at its Srinagar office. “Some were seeking redressal of grievances and do not fall within the purview of the SVC. Some were referred to legal cell,” he said.

 In the last one year, he said that the SVC received around 600 complaints.

He said that the commission would conduct various outreach activities across the state to make people aware about the ill-effects of corruption.

“The idea is to reach out to as many people as possible and to inform them about grave problems posed by corruption,” he said.

 He said that he has asked the officers of the SVC to speed up the investigation process and ensure that corruption-related cases are disposed of in a time-bound manner.(KNS)

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