Haryana’s State Vigilance Bureau renamed as Anti-Corruption Bureau

In 2022, Haryana’s State Vigilance Bureau had registered 246 corruption cases, the highest annual figure in the past 10 years. The Director General of the Vigilance Bureau, Shatrujeet Kapur, said, “The Bureau conducted 170 raids in 2022 and recovered Rs 6,21,70,230 on the spot and after searching the properties of the accused people who were raided. A total of 193 government servants, including 27 gazetted officers as well as 27 private individuals, were arrested in these cases. Of the 246 cases, 170 were ‘trap cases’, in which people were caught red-handed. And the rest were registered on the basis of inquiries or special checking. On average, 18 public servants were arrested on corruption charges every month in the year 2022.”

Last year, Khattar had approved various initiatives of the bureau, including the setting up of a revolving fund to provide “trap money” to people lodging complaints against government officials who demand bribes.

The Haryana government had also sanctioned 809 additional posts to strengthen the bureau and changed the system of appointment of independent witnesses to check the leakage of information and also created six divisional vigilance bureaus. The government also allocated Rs 100 crore to strengthen vigilance-related initiatives in 2023-2024.

“Fully functional vigilance offices have been made operational in each district. We are also preparing to launch a big crackdown on corrupt officials by attaching their ill-gotten properties in 2023,” Kapur said.

Haryana Cabinet meeting on February 2

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will chair a meeting of the council of ministers Thursday (February 2) at 11 am in the main committee room of the Haryana Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh.