Vigilance Commission pursues every complaint : SP
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR

Imphal, August 10 2016: The Vigilance Commission Manipur will pursue cases against any department or officials regardless of his or her position if there is a complaint against that particular official, R K Meme, SP Vigilance has stated.

She was speaking at the 63rd press conference organized by DIPR at its office premises to highlight the achievements of the various departments of Government of Manipur.

Answering to a query as to whether the department is selective in taking cases against high ranking government officials she said anybody can lodge a complaint against any official however high the ranking and that the name and other details of the complainant will be kept strictly confidential.

Vigilance Commission pursues every complaint : R K Meme SP Vigilance

Vigilance Commission, according to her can only recommend action to be taken up against officials who have misused his position for personal gain, misappropriate government funds etc., to a high powered commission headed by the Chief Secretary of the State.

Though the Commission, on its own, cannot directly take action against the erring official, however the fact that a vigilance case has been filed acts as a deterrent as the concerned official will not be considered for promotion and shall be denied pension benefits among other things until and unless he is cleared of the charges by the Commission which will issue a Vigilance Integrity Certificate, R K Meme added.

Listing some of the major achievements of the Commission during 2015-16, she said the State Vigilance Commission, Manipur had initiated vigilance case to enquire into the alleged misuse of funds meant for the digitalization of records of Manipur State Archives and construction of water reservoir capacity of 5000 litres for Manipur State Archives against Dr K Sushila Devi, Director of Art and Culture, Manipur.

Following the enquiry the Commission recommended that a departmental enquiry for awarding major penalty may be initiated against Dr K Sushila for violation of the provisions of Central Treasury Rules and also for misappropriation of funds.

The Commission had recommended recovery of a sum of Rs 14,60,000 under Manipur Public Services Liability Act, 2006 from Dr K Sushila Devi.

Under the recommendation of the Commission, the State Government has also issued 'Strict warning' to Y Dimbajit Singh, Deputy Secretary (Higher & Technical Education) and P Vaiphei, Commissioner (Higher Education) for issuing backdated transfer and posting orders.

Among the cases charge sheeted, a case has been submitted in the Court of the Sessions Judge Manipur Imphal West for trial against A Sukumar Sharma, s/o (L) A Lalhari Sharma of Khagempalli Panthak, Imphal West, the then Settlement Officer for misappropriating Government money of upto Rs 35,00,000 meant for infrastructural development work for the computerization of Land Record of the 27 SDC/SDO Officers in the year 1999 and 2000 through forged, bogus dubious cash memos/APRs/Voucher etc.

A case was also registered against Md Kiyamuddin (47), s/o Md Basiruddin of Tarahei, Md Anwar Khan (46), s/o (L) Md MV Nuruddin and Md Ahamad (46), s/o Md Abdul Matalif of Hiyangthang for entering service on the strength of fake regularization appointment order purported to have been issued by the Director of Vety & AH Services, Manipur.

After proper investigation, charge sheet was submitted in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thoubal for trial against the above mentioned accused.

During the year 2015 � 2016, 19 enquiry cases (including 4 enquiry cases converted to FIR) were recommended for 4 major penalty, 4 minor penalty and 3 recoveries under Manipur Public Servants' Personal Liability Act, 2006.Four enquiry cases were converted into FIR cases involving 15 officials.

The SP Vigilance said that Manipur is one of the few States which has an Act like Manipur Personal Liability Act 2006 under which it is possible to recover misappropriated funds from salaries of public servants found guilty of committing irregular action.

The Act was amended in 2013 which made the law enforceable from 2002 .

Talking about the hurdles faced by the Commission, RK Meme said shortage of manpower in terms of armed policemen, lady constable, police station with lock ups and godown is a major handicap for the Commission.

Other major impediments faced by the Commission include lack of cooperation from other departments in terms of supplying requested documents without delay, she added.

The press conference was also attended by Director of Vigilance Commission, Manipur, Dr Shailesh Kumar Chourasia and Reena Haobam, DSP/ Vigilance.