The Pioneer 27.12.2010
MCD ordered to complete probe into 4,300 corruption cases soon
December 27, 2010 3:14:43 PM
Staff Reporter | New Delhi
The Delhi High Court has directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to complete inquiries on a “war-footing” into about 4,300 pending corruption-related cases. The order was passed by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Deepak Misra and Justice Manmohan on December 22 on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Vivek Garg.
“There is a large scale corruption in civic bodies. The aim of PIL is to save poor people from being the victims of red-tape. Corruption exists in certain Government departments. We are happy at the court’s order and hope that MCD will strictly comply with it,” Garg said. The court asked the civic agency to complete inquiries on a “war-footing”.
In its submission before the court, the MCD said it has also formed a team of nine-officers, at the level of Junior Law Officer (JLO) and above, for fast resolution of all inquiries. In its order, Garg also claimed that the court directed him to file a separate PIL on pending corruption cases against officials in Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Public Works Department (PWD), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Delhi Police among others. “We shall soon be moving to the court,” claimed Garg.
The petitioner has sought the court’s direction over large number of cases pending against MCD officials and enclosed details he got through the Right to Information Act. In reply to an RTI query, the Public Information Officer of Vigilance Department of MCD had in last year said that as many as 4,299 cases were pending against about 3,350 officials.
Out of the registered cases, 1,435 cases were by Anti-Corruption branch of the Delhi Government, police and CBI, whereas 2,877 cases were registered by the MCD’s Vigilance Wing, the RTI reply said.
The Anti-Corruption branch has registered 40 cases under different sections of Prevention of Corruption Act against 100 MCD officials and some other private persons.
Most of the tainted MCD officials, working at middle and senior levels like zonal incharge, superintendent and executive engineers, have over two to three such cases against them, the RTI reply had said.
