No separate investigation wing required to probe cases: CVC

Central Vigilance Commission does not need any separate investigation wing to look into high profile cases of corruption, its chief Pradeep Kumar has said.

"The CVC has a mix of officers. We have engineers and officers from Indian Police Service and Indian Administrative Service among others. There is no need to have a separate investigation wing. Officers in the Chief Technical Examination wing are capable enough to tackle cases being dealt by the Commission," Kumar told PTI in an interaction.

The high-level Shunglu Committee, which went into the alleged Commonwealth Games related irregularities, has in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommended greater autonomy for the CTE wing.

The CTE wing acts as the investigating arm of the probity watchdog. Kumar said the Commission was examining its manpower requirement.

"CVC is dealing in many sensitive cases. We get a number of corruption complaints also. The CVC is internally examining whether it is capable of managing things with the present manpower. Once our requirements are decided a note may be prepared for the government to decide on it," he said when asked whether the Commission was facing any shortage of staff.

Kumar, a former IAS officer, took over the reins of the CVC in July last year.

The CVC is getting a lot of complaints related to corruption and some related to grievances which are promptly addressed, he said.

CVC gets a lot of complaints which are outside its ambit. For instance, we get grievances also. Some complaints we get are related to state governments. We forward those complaints or grievances to Chief Secretary of concerned states for necessary resolution.

But all complaints of corruption are promptly attended to," he said.

When asked whether the CVC complaints handling policy needs any changes in view of vexatious pleas, Kumar said "the rise in complaints shows people friendly approach of the Commission. There is always a scope for improvement. We will work for further improving complaints handling mechanism."

The CVC has received 2,327 complaints, including 45 from whistleblowers, during September 2012. Besides, there are a number of complaints received through 'Vig Eye' -- an e-initiative of the Commission to check corruption.

The CVC has been recently chosen to head a 10-member global task force to plan a knowledge management system to promote global cooperation in anti-corruption measures.