Govt to digitise vigilance case tracking as delays mount and complaints surge

Panaji: State govt will introduce online complaints monitoring and departmental proceedings monitoring systems to monitor the investigation of vigilance cases against govt employees as pending cases have piled up.

State govt has moved a proposal to the Goa Electronic Ltd.

Around 500 vigilance cases were pending investigation for the last three years as multiple agency roles were involved in the majority of the complaints, the directorate of vigilance said.

On an average, more than one corruption and misconduct complaint per day was filed against govt employees and public representatives over the past five years. Since March 2020, 2,741 complaints have been filed with the directorate. Some of the cases have been disposed of over the period. But nobody was arrested in any of the cases over the past five years.

A senior govt officer said that not all complaints received at the office are registered, and some cases are disposed of at the preliminary stage.

“Reasons for delay are primarily on account of multiple agency roles involved in majority of the complaints received, wherein the further purpose of conducting preliminary enquiries, obtaining relevant records from the multiple agencies, involving more than one officer/official, examining their procedures, role of officers, recording statements of the officers, witnesses, conducting site inspection, scrutiny of records entail substantial time in completing enquiries into the complaints,” chief minister Pramod Sawant said.

This directorate has issued a circular to all the investigating officers (IOs) for completion of the inquiries within six months. Sawant said that regular reminders are sent to the IOs for submitting monthly status reports of the inquiries.

“Meetings of the inquiry officers chaired by the chief secretary were also held to review the pendency, and instructions were issued for timely disposal of inquiries entrusted to the inquiry officers. In response, most of the IOs have submitted the inquiry reports to the directorate of vigilance,” Sawant said.

He said that for timely disposal of the complaints, ordinarily a 90-day time period has been laid down.

However, depending upon the complexity of the matter, the required time for completion of the inquiry may vary.

“As regards disciplinary proceedings are concerned, the time period of six months has been laid down, which can be extended for a further period with the approval of disciplinary authorities citing reasons of additional time. The duration of a full investigation depends on the specific facts and circumstances of each case,” Sawant said.