CHANDIGARH, June 9: The Punjab government appears to be stonewalling action against a large number of officials facing corruption charges by dilly-dallying on the issue of allowing the state vigilance bureau to initiate proceeding against them.Documents reveal that as many as 94 cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA)- which were sent to the Secretary (Vigilance) for sanction for prosecution- are gathering dust. A number of reminders given to the sanctioning authority have not yielded any results. These mainly relate to middle and junior level officers.Of these, as many as two cases pertain to 1992 and 1993, in which a naib tehsildar then posted in Moga, and two PCS officers then posted in Jalandhar, were booked under various sections of the PCA. Investigations were completed long ago but nothing concrete has come out yet.It may be recalled that the registration of cases against the PCS officers, working as district transport officers, had led to a major stand-off between the police and the state cadre civil servants. The PCS Officers Association had launched an agitation, seeking withdrawal of the cases against their colleagues.In the vigilance bureau records, the revenue department tops the list of officers facing corruption cases. The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) stands second in the list with 9 cases awaiting sanction, while the department of panchayats and rural development occupies third position with 6 cases awaiting sanction.Chief Secretary R. S. Mann when contacted, said the working of the vigilance bureau was found wanting as the cases were not being properly investigated. A high level committee of secretaries would be constituted soon to review its investigations and recommendations in the interest of justice.However, a senior vigilance bureau officer said that it was the police only, which could judge the quality of investigations, besides the judiciary. He expressed fear that the proposed committee of secretaries might water down action against the corrupt officials.Interestingly, the move to constitute a committee of secretaries, over and above the Chief Director Vigilance, comes at a time when a proposal sent in the recent months by former bureau Chief B. P. Tewari seeking more teeth, was still lying pending with the government. He had sought more powers at par with those granted to the Central Bureau of Investigations for quick and stern action against the corrupt.The vigilance bureau officers argued that the move to constitute a committee would be contrary to the spirit of a recent Supreme Court judgement on the issue of according prosecution-sanction to the CBI, where high ranking government officers were facing charges.In fact, in recent years, the vigilance Bureau has completed inquiries against only a handful of IAS and IPS officers. In one such case against Geetika Kalha, an IAS officer, the Punjab government has reportedly rejected the recommendation of the bureau seeking permission to prosecute her. The case relates to the time when she was posted as Managing Director, PUNSUP. She was accused of purchasing wooden crates at a price higher than the one fixed by a committee.Secretary Vigilance, Surjit Singh reportedly had not agreed with the findings of the bureau in what was known as the "wooden crates scandal". As a matter of ``bounden caution'' the Punjab Chief Minister had referred the file back to the Chief Secretary for his comments. The CS, however, reiterated the stand taken by the Secretary Vigilance. The case was later dropped with a single directive to "close it".Before going abroad on ex-India leave, Geetika Kalha told ENS that the investigation by the bureau was so crude that a scandal was made out of nothing. She had sought an over-haul of the bureau.
