India Takes Steps to Deal with Corrupt Officials

Although the Indian governments claim that they are trying to reduce corruption in the country, all the anti-corruption laws are so weak and complicated that instead of punishing the corrupt officials, they protect them.

While India continues to be one of the most corrupt countries of the world, the Government of India says that it is taking steps to sternly deal with corrupt officials.

India’s Minister of State for Personnel, Jitendra Singh, told in the Rajya Sabha on July 11 that action is being taken against officials who are found guilty of corruption.

The provisions under Fundamental Rules (FR) 56(j), Rule 48 of Central Civil Services (CCS) (Pension) Rules, 1972 and Rule 16(3) (Amended) of All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) [AIS(DCRB)] Rules, 1958, have laid down the policy of periodic review and premature retirement of government servants, which is a continuous process.

[ Delhi LG Anil Baijal Orders to Remove Corrupt Officers ]

The Minister informed that these rules are reiterated from time to time and lastly on 20.6.2019. As per information furnished by Ministries / Departments through probity portal, during April-May, 2019, FR 56(j) /similar provisions have been invoked / recommended against a total of 17 Group-B officers (13 in Ministries / Departments and 4 in Autonomous Organizations).

It has also been reiterated through notice dated 20.6.2019 to ensure that the prescribed procedure like forming of opinion to retire a government employee prematurely in public interest is strictly adhered to, and that the decision is not an arbitrary one, and is not based on collateral grounds.

In order to weed out increasing corruption from Delhi Government offices, recently the Lt. Governor (LG) of Delhi Anil Baijal has also resolved to take strict action against the corrupt officers.

Baijal has directed the Chief Secretary of Delhi, Vice Chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Police Commissioner, and the Municipal Commissioners to take action under Fundamental Rule 56(j) of Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 to compulsorily retire ‘tainted’ officers.

The 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International reveals that India is among the most corrupt countries of the world. The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this latest CPI, with an average score of 43. India, with a score of just 41, is ranked 78 in the world. In other words, India is more corrupt than 77 other countries.