DVC corruption: CIC backs whistleblower

To prove his point,Jain is armed with a letter,dated October 3,2008,from Gurudas Kamat,MP and Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy,addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh mentioning irregularities committed by the DVC. He also has on record a Central Vigilance Commission report,dated November 21,2008,“establishing various allegations made against the officials of the Damodar Valley Corporation”.

Besides,the Central Bureau of Investigation is also probing several allegations of corruption against the Corporation. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has backed the efforts of the officer and resident of Dhanbad district in Jharkhand,by cautioning the DVC not to “harass and humiliate an officer who has shown courage to expose corrupt practices of his employer”.

Information Commissioner M M Ansari on January 22 provided a fillip to the whistleblower’s cause to uncover the “truth” using RTI mechanism by passing a scathing comment that any denial of information sought by Jain by the Corporation was “unjustified”. The CIC criticised Jain’s current predicament of having to face a “disciplinary action under the service conduct rules,for raising issues under the provisions of the RTI Act”.

“The charges made deals with corruption and lack of accountability of the respondent (DVC). The truth must be unearthed for an objective scrutiny and assessment of the DVC’s actions,” the Bench held.

Referring to the documents placed on record before the Bench,the CIC said that the information sought by Jain on the “irregularities committed by the DVC have also been discussed in the vigilance report and the letter written by Gurudas Kamat,Member of Parliament”. The Commission,even as it expressed doubts if any “follow-up action” has been taken based on the vigilance report or the MP’s letter,observed that both documents indeed “establish” Jain’s allegations.

“The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) is directed to allow inspection of entire documents pertaining to the award of contracts,the records of selection of staff and other expenditure details as specified in his (Jain’s) application. Upon inspection,the specified information should be furnished at the earliest,preferably within one month from the date of issue of this decision. The information should be furnished free of cost,” the Commission ordered. Interestingly,the Corporation had defended its denial citing that “a large part of information asked for” pertained to work related to providing “adequate supply of power for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games”.

“The access to the relevant documents relating to ongoing activities for making necessary arrangements for supply of power might retard the progress of work undertaken in this regard,since the parties with vested interest might create hurdles to jeopardise the on-going projects,” the Corporation had contended in the hearing.