CVC seeks sanction to prosecute tainted officials

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has advised Department of Personnel and Training to issue sanction for prosecution against a senior IAS officer indicted by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) for misappropriation of government funds.

S R Mohanty, a 1982 batch- Madhya Pradesh cadre officer, was charge-sheeted by the EOW in 2005. The EOW alleged that Mohanty as managing director of Madhya Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation (MPSIDC) distributed public money to the tune of `719 crore as loans to over 40 private companies without any guarantee.

The state government could not recover a single penny and had filed criminal case against the defaulters. Mohanty was the Managing Director of the state government owned entity during 1999-2004.

The CVC in its performance report for July stated that prosecution sanctions against nine officials were issued by the competent authority of various ministries, including an IAS officer of 1989 batch of Orissa cadre.

The commission has also advised initiation of major penalty proceeding against 203 officials of various ministries which include a Joint Secretary level officer.

“Commission advised imposition of major penalty against 33 officials of various ministries, which include one joint secretary and legal advisor of Department Legal Affairs and one IAS officer,” the commission said.

In July, commission processed 2,832 complaints and sought investigation in 45 complaints from the concerned ministries.

In July this year Chief Technical Examiner of the commission submitted five technical examination reports which resulted in recovery of over `1 crore to the government.

The CVC is also advocating e-tendering process to bring about greater transparency in all aspects of decision making in public services.

“While there cannot be any substitute for integrity and honesty of the personnel involved in the decision making process, use of e-procurement and reverse auction methods provide an effective tool towards addressing many concerns such as cartel formation, tampering of bids, manipulation,” CVC Pradeep Kumar stated.