Indira Gandhi once remarked that corruption is International (to justify the massive corruption that has taken root under her). Rajiv Gandhi stated that out of the 1 rupee spent by the government only 15 paisa actually reaches the public which unfortunately happens to be true. As per Transparency International India has the dubious distinction of having the largest amount of black money in the world and it aggregates to Rs 70,00,000 crores.
The base legislation for investigation of corruption is the Indian Penal Code enacted in 1860. In the context of anti corruption legislation, the Anti Corruption Act of 1988 is important. But to prosecute a government servant or a civil servant, the prior permission of the state or central government is a must. The Benami Transaction Act also brought in 1988 is equally important. As per this act, a person is prohibited from purchasing property in any other name except that of his wife and unmarried daughter. A person violating this act can be penalized with imprisonment upto 3 years as well as a penalty. As per this act, the concerned official can confiscate benami properties in other names without paying any compensation. The Illegal Properties Prevention Act of 2002 is also an important legislation in this direction. If a person tries to legalize the properties acquired by indulging in malpractices, then he is liable to be imprisoned from 3 to 7 years and fine upto Rs 5 lacs.
Corruption cases are primarily investigated by CVC (Central Vigilance Commission), CBI and the ACB( Anti Corruption Bureau) of the states. The cases of corruption by government servants and civil servants, the investigation is taken up by the Enforcement Directorate and the Economic Surveillance Department. Both of these are under the Finance Ministry.
The cases that come under the jurisdiction of the Center or Centrally Governed areas are investigated by the CBI. The cases that come under the jurisdiction of the state are undertaken by the ACB’s. The states can also request for investigation under the CBI for cases under their jurisdiction. The CVC investigates the cases of corruption in government departments and the CBI is under its supervision. Any action on a government servant or a civil servant is recommended by the CVC, but the authority to decide the action against them lies with the concerned head of the employee.
As one sees this structure one can see the possible slippages that can occur on this account. If all these laws are enforced strictly they would have brought down corruption substantially. Unfortunately these laws get confined to the books and do not get implemented and there is no body to enforce these laws. Unless an independent body like the Janlokpal is created, these laws can never be enforced. Amazingly enough none of these anti corruption laws are applicable to the representatives of the people and they are left to their own devices to violate laws without any supervision. In the context of opening up of the economy corporate corruption has also scaled new heights and unless an effective body is created to deal with them, which should be part of the Janlokpal, high level corruption cannot be prevented.
There is a newspaper in my mother tongue Telugu called “Eenadu”. It gives excellent investigative articles and I am a great fan of that newspaper. True, enough it has leanings towards one political party. That is the reason why I totally ignore any news that appears in that newspaper concerning that party. Nevertheless, it gives great information to the reader. The matter I have written here is partly taken from one of the articles that appeared in this paper in Telugu, and part of it is my own ideas.
