On Wednesday, a meeting was held between the CM Punjab Bhagwant Mann, Chief Secretary VK Janjua and the Vigilance Bureau Chief Varinder Kumar. This meeting brought out some of the startling facts that are hindrances in the working of the Vigilance Bureau against corruption. The whole matter that has come out is the relationship between investigation, prosecution and sanctions by the department.
Reportedly, whenever an accused is arrested by the Vigilance Bureau to initiate a further investigation as well as prosecution, permission from certain departments is required. The problem that comes out is these departments do not provide the sanction to VB to carry out investigation and prosecution. Vigilance Bureau revealed all the sanctions the bureau has asked for and the ones that have till now not got sanctioned. The chief further added that non-availability of permission is a big obstacle in their work to fight corruption.
All these departments include high-level officers like IAS, IPS, PCS, etc. There is internal lobbying going on between the departments due to which even if the accused is arrested, further investigation is not carried out. During the meeting, this was the top reason cited for the weakening of cases handled by the Vigilance Bureau.
The chief further added that two main departments that are creating problems are Forest Department and Excise Department. Giving information about the cases, VB chief said that a multi-crore forest scam was unveiled in which 2 big officers namely Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Sangat Singh Diljiya were arrested. The problem is till date the Vigilance Bureau has not received any reply from Additional Chief Secretary, Raju Srivastava on their various letters seeking permission for investigation and prosecution. Another case revealed was from the Excise Department, Varinder Sharma informed the CM that various letters were sent to the department seeking permission but have not got sanction for most of the cases.
Not only the recent ones but the chief of Vigilance Bureau is now taking account of the 15-year-old cases as well. It is being reported that many higher officials are also involved in the cases and the VB has asked for sanctions from the respective departments.
Keeping in mind the problems that Vigilance Bureau is facing, the Chief Secretary has called for a meeting on 21st October 2022 in which all the heads of various departments will be involved. The secretary has further asked the heads to get all the files of cases in which Vigilance has sought sanction and has asked them to come up with the reason about why the permission has not been granted to the bureau.