For two years,Hazare failed to nominate any member to anti-corruption panels

When asked the reason,Hazare said he stopped the appointments after learning that the committees are not functioning properly. A senior aide of the activist said Hazare was told that the meetings of the committees were not held regularly. However,RTI documents show that in Pune and other districts,the meetings were held on a regular basis and complaints received by them.

The committees were formed as per the original Government Resolution (GR) issued in 1997 and since then the state government has issued 11 more GRs regarding the working and composition of the committees. Each GR was preceded by Hazare’s threat of agitation about the “weaknesses in the committees” to the government.

As per the latest GR of 2011,there have to be division,district and taluka level committees to curb corrupt practices in governance. Along with government officers and social workers,each of these committees were to have one representative nominated by Hazare. These people were supposed to be of impeccable character and were to represent Hazare in the committees.

However,as RTI documents show,the activist has failed to nominate these members,resulting in 392 vacancies in the committees. Repeated reminders from district collectors with Hazare’s office failed to draw any response.

At the division level,these committees are headed by divisional commissioner,at district level by the district collector,while at the taluka levels either the tehsildar or deputy district collector heads them. A host of senior government officers,such as the superintendent of police,inspector of anti-corruption wing,executive engineer of Public Works Department,deputy registrar of housing societies,between 5-10 non-government members are also supposed to be in the committees. Similarly,at the taluka level,the body would have senior officials from departments like police,water supply,PWD,block development office and between three to five non-government members.

The tenure of every non-government nominee is two years,with new GRs to be issued for nomination of new members. The GR states that these panels should meet once every three months and take note of the allegations of corruption. Other than having powers of summoning officers and seeking documents,the reports of the committees can lead to a divisional enquiry and adverse remarks in the annual confidential reports of government servants.

Documents show that the last appointment of non-government members was done by Hazare in 2009 and once their tenure was over in 2011,his office failed to recommend names for the committees.

Last September,the Pune district collector had sent four reminders to Hazare’s office,but there was no reply. “In the lack of your nomination for the district and taluka level anti-corruption committees,the posts are lying vacant. Kindly send us your nominations urgently,” a letter stated.

Senior officers from the General Administration Department said while the nomination of other non-government members can be controlled politically,Hazare’s nominations are independent. “As they are vouched for by Hazare,their conduct is mostly above doubt. Their absence tends to stack up the odds against the credibility of the committees,” an officer said.

Activist Vijay Kumbhar,who has been following up the working of the committees since their inception,said Hazare might be facing “non-availability” of honest people to nominate.

Hazare said,“Why should I make appointments and run behind the government? We should stand on our own feet. The government tries to take unnecessary advantage. They say we have taken so many of your people (on these committees),then why are you criticising the government? This is not good. So I stopped.”

Officials,however,claimed the Pune district committee has had eight meetings in the past two years.