Only 15 cases of corruption registered by DVAC in 2016

Except for recording arrests of some junior level officials for taking a bribe of Rs 1,000 or a little above, hardly any major cases of corruption were registered and investigated by the agency during the period. Senior officials said that in effect, this unit had become a white elephant under the state government.  

The role of DVAC is to inquire, register and investigate cases of corruption against state government employees and public servants. However, time and again the agency has only become a tool in the hands of the ruling party to settle scores. Most cases registered during a particular regime are invariably dropped or put in cold storage after a change in government. 

After AIADMK came to power, there were several raids against former ministers of the preceding DMK government on charges of land grab and also for accumulating assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. However, there is no word from the agency regarding the progress of these cases. Similarly, when DMK was in power, there were cases against AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. 

The irony has gone to the extent that soon after Jayalalithaa took over as Chief Minister for a second term, the agency had moved the court to drop its own London Hotel case, booked against Jayalalithaa during DMK regime. “DVAC does not doing anything constructive to fight corruption. In the police, a popular joke that always does the rounds is: if you want to sit back and enjoy life in the force, you should try and get posted in the DVAC,” a senior police officer told DTNext. 

Recently, DVAC drew flak for not registering a case of corruption against top bureaucrat and former Chief Secretary Rama Mohana Rao when the Income Tax department provided proof regarding largescale corruption against the official. 

DVAC preferred not to act even after CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Sekhar Reddy, whose links with Rama Mohana Rao had been established by the Income Tax department. “Our plan was to hand over the case to DVAC after we secured documents that pointed to corruption involving a senior bureaucrat. But the Chief Secretary is the head of DVAC and we understood that there was no point in handing over the information against its own chief to DVAC,” a senior Income Tax official disclosed. 

According to available statistics, out of the total complaints and information received by DVAC, less than 20 per cent cases are registered and investigated. Only cases where junior level government staff are involved, are taken to their logical conclusion. 

According to DVAC’s own submission, out of 344 government officials, including 94 who were caught red-handed during 2015-2016, only 99 officials faced departmental disciplinary action. In complaints of corruption against police personnel, out of the 81 police personnel against whom complaints were filed during 2015-16, cases were registered against just 17 and only seven were subjected to departmental disciplinary action. In 2015-16, only one case was booked against an all-India serviceofficer in the state, the lowest since 2000. 

“DVAC does get information regarding corruption including those involving top level bureaucrats but the agency chose not to act sinceit was against the ‘interests’ of the government in power. Nothing moves in DVAC without political intervention,” another senior police official who had a long stint with DVAC told this newspaper. Sources said even if some officer tried to do the job independently, he would be transferred out and a ‘flexible’ official posted in his place. 

DVAC has a sanctioned strength of 868 personnel including one Director in the rank of DGP/ADGP, 3 IGs, 1 DIG and 4 SPs. As many as 127 posts remain vacant in the department, including that of the director. Government spends several crores towards the salaries and operational costs of the department but the outcome has been abysmally low, sources revealed. Joint Director of DVAC Venkataraman was not available for comment. Several attempts to contact him over phone as well as in person at the DVAC headquarters was futile.