Vittal’s website blacklist needs a major reboot: CVC

Shankar had, in fact, as a Secretary then registered his protest with Vittal. ‘‘We find that it is very easy to bring an inquiry to the stage of chargesheet but after that the process becomes difficult. So it is not fair to brand someone just because he has been chargesheeted.’’

Vittal had in January 2000 ordered listing of all officers against whom the CVC had advised criminal proceedings and major penalties. Speaking to The Indian Express from Chennai, he said there were about 2,500 names on the website but prosecution had been recommended in only about 450 cases. ‘‘I received no complaints when these names were put up but every CVC will have his own perception on the issue. I hear some change is in the offing,’’ he remarked.

Shankar feels it would be too drastic to remove all the names at once; so they will ‘‘weed out’’ the entries gradually. But new names will be added only after an official is sentenced.

But departments which go lax on fighting corruption will be put under special watch.

‘‘We will work out a strategy to see that departments which are not taking action against officers under inquiry are exposed. Maybe just the names of the department will remain on the website.’’ According to Shankar, the website will soon have a new look and fresh guidelines — one, for instance, on lodging e-complaints.

Vigilance Commissioner H J Dora agrees with the new strategy.

‘‘While the CVC will continue its relentless pursuit against corruption, we do not want demoralisation to set in because of names of officers under inquiry being put up,’’ he said.

The website lists the names of officials and the service and department they belong to.

For instance, names of 65 IAS officers (since January 1990) against whom the CVC had asked for criminal proceedings have been put up along with 20 against whom major penalties had been recommended.

Similarly, 11 IPS officers facing criminal proceedings and five facing major penalties have also been displayed. But against a majority of these and hundreds of other names, the ‘‘outcome’’ column says ‘‘information awaited’’.

Vittal emphasised that the ‘‘slackness of the system’’ and the fact that many departments and ministries had not taken action in vigilance cases for as long as five years was a very serious matter.

‘‘The message that goes out is that the corrupt are being protected,’’ he added. ‘‘In a vast majority of these cases, vigilance officers were fairly sure of getting a conviction.’’