Hard pressed to demonstrate actionable steps on tackling corruption in the wake of recent scams, the UPA government has initiated a series of steps to clean up the bureaucracy.
The government has decided to include corruption as a key indicator in the performance management evaluation of the various ministries that was put in place last year. Moreover, Cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar, who heads a committee of secretaries constituted to look into complaints against senior bureaucrats, has decided to hold weekly meetings for disposal of pending cases.
The committee, set up last year, comprises secretaries to the Prime Minister, the Central Vigilance Commissioner, DoPT, and Secretary (Coordination) in the Cabinet Secretariat. Chandrasekhar was learnt to have written to the concerned ministries seeking clarifications on complaints against bureaucrats.
?There are about 20 to 30 cases pending against Secretaries in different ministries. We have decided to hold weekly meetings to dispose of them. Many of these complainants are anonymous and many a time charges are frivolous. But whenever we have found serious complaints, we have forwarded them to the CVC,? said a top bureaucrat who is a part of this committee.
Sources said the complaints against secretaries range from ?serious to banal?. For instance, there is a complaint against a former Secretary in the ministry of road transport & highways that the NHAI had to pay Rs 27 lakh for his eight-day stay in a five-star hotel. Another high-profile Secretary faces allegation of ?rude behaviour?.
?It could be very demoralising for a senior officer if harassed with frivolous complaints. So, we dispose of such cases at our level. But, whenever there is something serious, we treat it with equal seriousness,? said a member of the committee.
According to senior officials in the Cabinet Secretariat, ministries will also be asked to identify specific areas in government departments that are potential breeding grounds for corruption. These indicators are to be included in the Results Framework Document (RFDs) that each ministry has to submit to measure their performance levels at the end of the year.
The review mechanism, that sets performance targets for individual ministries, was implemented last year with RFDs being signed between the minister and the secretary in 62 ministries. The only exceptions were the ministries of home, finance, defence, MEA and PMO besides the planning commission.