Governor N N Vohra reviewed the functioning of State Vigilance Commission (SVC) on receiving the 5th Annual Report of the Commission with Sh. P.L. Gupta, Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), Srinagar.The report contained to-date status of the complaints received by the Commission, action taken for their disposal and the conclusions arrived at by the SVC for making the Commission more effective and result oriented.In-spite of the fact that the Commission remained non-functional from March, 2017 to October, 2017, the work-done by the Commission was appreciable. The report states that out of total 445 complaints received by the Commission during 2017, 26 were referred for departmental/administrative action and 16 referred for registration of FIRs/PEs by Vigilance Organization/Crime Branch/Police. 156 complaints were dismissed/filed after examination while another 82 were dismissed after thorough enquiry/hearing. During the period under reference the Commission disposed of 280 complaints. The Commission also rendered advice in respect of all 27 FIR cases and 79 Preliminary Enquiries/Joint Surprise Checks referred it to by the Vigilance Organization.Since inception of the Commission in February, 2013, the number of complaints received by the Commission upto 31.12.2017, year-wise, are: 985 (2013); 1168 (2014); 1200 (2015); 989 (2016); 445 (2017). Briefly, out of the total 4,787 complaints received by the Commission since 2013, 4246 complaints stand disposed of while 541 are under scrutiny.
Governor also took note of the observations/recommendations of the Commission which include: (i) time bound operationalization of the pilot project on computerization of revenue record of twin cities of Jammu and Srinagar which was earlier scheduled to be completed by March, 2018; (ii) appointment of Chief Vigilance Officers in all Government departments to avoid irregularities in appointments/procurements; (iii) posting of District Vigilance Officers on the recommendations of SVC; (iv) making it mandatory to seek advice of SVC in case the concerned departments do not agree with the recommendations of Vigilance Organization and the advice so rendered shall be binding on concerned department; (v) hosting of Annual Property Returns of all Gazetted officers of State services on departmental websites; and (vi) installation of CCTVs in the offices having large public interface. This will help in strengthening the system of transparency, accountability and internal vigilance in the Government departments.Governor complimented the Commission for the very significant work done and urged them to continue regular monitoring of all pending enquiry and prosecution sanction cases in accordance with the provisions of the State Vigilance Commission Act, 2011 and taking all possible initiatives to enhance awareness amongst people and encouraging them to come forward for reporting every case of dishonest functioning by Public Servants. Governor directed time bound action on the recommendations of the Commission which are pending disposal with various Administrative Secretaries.