The Chandigarh vigilance wing has found merely 45 (8 per cent) of the total 560 complaints registered between January 1, 2019, and April 30, 2022 fit for investigation. Around 272 (48 per cent) were forwarded to the departments concerned for taking action, of which 45 complaints, in which the UT vigilance wing initiated action, were converted into FIRs. Decision is pending in 34 complaints. According to an RTI, procured by Sector 27 resident RK Garg, 209 (38 per cent) complaints were rejected on various grounds, including anonymity, not specific and vague allegations, filed using pseudonymous etc. The vigilance wing deals with complaints of bribe, corruption and embezzlement of government funds. Of the total 560 complaints, 495 (87 per cent) were received from the office of Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC), Delhi, and Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO), whose powers are with UT Advisor. While 38 complaints (6 per cent) were forwarded from the CBI to the vigilance for further investigation, the rest were registered based on media reports, secret information among others. Sources said that the CBI had recommended many complaints involving low amount of fund embezzlement etc to the vigilance wing for investigation. “There are certain parameters set for CBI to investigate a complaint. In complaints where there are no criminal offences and only has procedural lapses, those are forwarded to the vigilance for probe,” sources said. A senior vigilance officer requesting anonymity added that the number of complaints registered with the department has increased over the years. “While we found some complaints to be genuine and initiated legal action into the allegations, but most were filed using pseudonyms and had leveled vague allegations. In such cases, the vigilance can't do anything. In cases where administration action was recommended, the complaints were forwarded to concerning department to initiate disciplinary proceedings. However, we have started receiving more cases than the past years,” the officer added.
