CVC says departments sit over graft complaints against babus

The highest of 117 complaints were related to Ministry of Railways, followed by 97 of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), 86 of Government of National Capital territory of Delhi, 68 in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and 58 of Delhi Development Authority.

Besides, 52 complaints of alleged corruption received by Department of Secondary and Higher Education, 40 by Ministry of Defence, 39 in Department of Health and 28 in Life Insurance Corporation of India have not been investigated, the CVC said in its annual report.

"Delays have been noticed not only at various levels of processing the complaints or cases but also at the level at which decisions are to be taken by the competent authorities who are senior level functionaries in the organisations...," the Central Vigilance Commission said.

"It has been observed that many a time the authorities in the organisations show complete apathy to these factors," it said.

The highest of 877 complaints were pending for investigation and report for upto an year, 598 between 1-3 years and 39 were pending for more than three years, it said.
The Central Vigilance Commission received 5,783 cases related to graft last year as against 4,721 in 2008 and 4,941 in 2007.

Based on Commission's advice, prosecution was sanctioned against 225 corrupt officers, major and minor penalty were imposed in 876 and 947 cases respectively. Different departments have also taken administrative action against 381 employees during the year, the report said.

"The Commission notes with concern that at the end of the year 2009, as many as 1,589 cases were pending for over six months for the implementation of the Commission's first stage advice.

"During the same period, 653 cases were pending for the implementation of the second stage advice of the Commission beyond six months," it said.

A total of 331 cases were of Ministry of Railways, 282 in Central Board of Excise and Customs, 144 in Department of Telecommunications and 140 in CBDT among others, the report said.