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The Rediff Interview/ N Vittal

'I do not want to be a hijra'

Central Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal is on the offensive. Armed with the powers given to him by the Supreme Court judgment in the Vineet Narain case, he has decided to call the shots rather than wait for the CVC to be bypassed by Parliament.

"I do not want to be a hijra (eunuch) in the Mughal court watching the courtiers indulge in pleasures in gay abundance," he declared in an exclusive interview to rediff.com's Onkar Singh.

"I am going to convert the Commission into a movement against rampant corruption in public office. We get hundreds and thousands of letters every week. I have my own web site on which people can send e-mail and register complaints. But I am not encouraging anonymous complaints to discourage blackmailers from hampering the work of honest workers," he said.

What is the role of the Central Vigilance Commission?

The role of the CVC is defined very clearly in the Act. Section Eight of the Act says the functions of the Commission are to exercise and supervise functioning of the Central Bureau of Investigation offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI investigates various types of offences which includes ghastly crimes like the Priyadarshni Mattoo case as well, but we are not concerned with it.

We are determined to fight corruption in Indian society and we will take whatever measures that may be necessary to do our job. The people who come under our preview are government servants, employees of banks, employees of public sector undertakings etc. The public can also send us complaints and we look into those complaints. We also tender advice to the departments concerned about the kind of action that needs to be taken against the employee against whom prima facie evidence is found.

How do you receive these complaints?

We get it through various sources. It can come from government departments, it can come by post as well. I have now created a web site at which those using modern technology can send their complaints. The site is nvittal@alpha.nic.in

I have got 600 chief vigilance officers all over the country who take up these complaints on behalf of the Commission.

Don't you think vested interests can always send false complaints to harass someone?

You are right. That is why I have issued clear instructions that no unsigned complaint is to be entertained at any cost. I have passed this order to eliminate blackmailers who send in complaints with ulterior motives and try to settle scores with those who they don't like. It was seen that in a number of cases people sent in complaints just when someone was about to get promotion. But if there are facts in the unsigned complaints they are verified and the matter is dealt with accordingly. This decision will help those who are honest and want to do their work without looking for any incentives.

We are essentially an advisory body. The final decision about what kind of action should be taken against the concerned employee/officer is the job of the concerned department. But by and large, they go by our opinion.

Has Parliament ever discussed any CVC report? If no action is taken on your report then what will you do?

I guess you are right. No CVC report has ever been discussed in Parliament so far. After sending in my report to Parliament I intend to call a press conference after a fortnight and start a media debate so that corruption issues get focussed in the media. Besides this, I have the additional responsibility of selecting the CBI director and some other senior government functionaries including the director of enforcement. These officers have a fixed tenure of two years and they cannot be shifted without my consent. This has happened because of the Supreme Court judgment in the Vineet Narain case which was delivered on December 18, 1997.

To prevent the CBI and Enforcement Directorate from outside influence, the Court has placed these agencies under the CVC and has made the Commission a statutory body and that is why the CVC Act had to be enacted.

Members of Parliament feel since the Lok Pal will also look into corruption in high places, would the CVC not be duplicating its work by doing the same thing?

There is no duplication of work between the CVC and Lok Pal. My basic forte is anti-corruption cases against government servants by the CBI. But the CBI also looks into corruption cases against politicians as well and hence those cases also come to me for supervision. Maybe they want to protect themselves against this. But I am not a hijra (eunuch) in a Mughal court who watches courtiers indulge in pleasures in gay abundance. I intend to clean up the system. I have done my bit in the 16 months of my 48 month tenure.

Normally, people who give and take bribes are both guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act. But in the case of MPs, only the person who gives bribes is guilty. How?

I agree with you. But this is the Supreme Court judgment in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bribery case. So we have to go along with the judgment.

You have gone on record saying you want to bring down corruption to the zero tolerance level. How do you propose to go about it?

It is not me who says this. Prime Minister Vajpayee has gone on record to say that corruption should be brought down to zero tolerance level. Zero tolerance means that no case of corruption will be tolerated and the corrupt would be punished. I want to involve the youth of this country in their fight against corruption. I want to take the help of youngsters who would volunteer for this work. I would take the help of old retired people who had a clean record to help in investigations.

I want Indian industry to lend a helping hand. I have asked the captains of Indian industries to stop giving bribes to officers who help them in illegal work. I intend to put out the lists of the corrupt on our web site.

Don't you think that would amount to defamation?

No, because telling the truth is not defamation. We already have about 70 odd IAS officers on our investigation list at the moment. But the number of police officers against whom there are charges of corruption are very low.

What happened to the special courts set up for this purpose?

The special courts set up to try cases of corruption have been ineffective. Progress is very slow. We need about 50 courts, but we have only 20 such courts at the moment. The corrupt need to be punished faster than the present system. We should arrange for traps for the corrupt in various offices. The corrupt should be dismissed from service. Unless we can do this, I am afraid nothing will happen and the corrupt will continue to thrive.

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