The “culling” of corrupt officials in government departments will begin soon as the Centre has completed major work in setting up a process wherein corrupt officials will be identified and compulsorily retired from their services, sources told The Sunday Guardian.
Sources in the Union government said that the vigilance wing of every government department has been asked to identify the corrupt officials and put them in an “agreed list”. An “agreed list” is compiled by every department and contains the names and details of the officers who, after an inquiry or during the course of an inquiry, have been found to be lacking in integrity, or against whom strong evidence and substantiated complaints have been received, raising questions on their credibility.
The list, according to officials aware of the development, has nearly been completed. “The next step that will be taken is to compulsorily remove them from their service, a process which will start from next month. The process of making this list is not new; it has been happening for a long time. The only difference now is that the names that appear on the list will be dealt with very sternly and very quickly and you will see many such officers being asked to resign by this year end,” said an official in the know.
Sources said that the number of babus, including IPS officers, on the list, which is a confidential document, is well over 100. It is likely to increase even more.
This list is intended to keep the ministries and the public sector undertakings informed about officials who are of doubtful integrity, so that they are not allotted sensitive posts and given important assignments. The list, which is regularly updated, is prepared on the basis of intelligence inputs, a major part of which is provided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Those who find themselves on the “agreed list” are subjected to closer, frequent scrutiny relating to their work and performance and they also go through checks about their reputation, both by the vigilance wing of their department and the CBI.
“The concerned agencies (Vigilance and CBI) have been asked to conduct secret inquiries and collect information that will be presented before these officials as and when the time comes. Corruption in bureaucracy is a major reason for the lack of trust in the political system of the country. The instructions received from the topmost office of the government is to identify and take strict and quick action against the corrupt officials. The method we are adopting is tackling it from the top, rather than going after the junior officials,” the official said.