388 convicted out of 2,210 cases registered by Vigilance in 5 yrs

--Vigilance Awareness Week-2012 observed

BHUBANESWAR: Only 388 cases ended in conviction out of 2,210 cases registered against 481 class-I officers, 481 class-II, 2,052 class-III, 80 class-IV Government employees of the State along with 301 other public servants and 806 private persons during last five years, said the Vigilance Department sources.

While presenting data in a State-level programme on the occasion of Vigilance Awareness Week-2012 on Thursday here, Director, Vigilance Odisha, Surendra Panwar said the State Vigilance has done record registration of 440 cases last year against this year’s 344 cases against public servants including top officials and private persons.

During this year till October 30, Vigilance has charge sheeted 295 cases out of 344 cases registered against the public servants and private persons, said the Director adding, 61 cases ended in convistion this year.

He stated that, according to the National Crime Record Bureau, Odisha stood at number three position, next to Maharashtra and Karnataka. Majority of the States had less than 150 cases registration, he added.

According to the data presented by the Director, the State Vigilance till now has registered altogether 99 cases against 43 IAS officers. Out of these 99 cases, charge sheets have been filed in 42 cases against 13 IAS officers. Altogether, 11 cases have been registered against 7 IPS officers. Out of which charge sheets have been placed in 10 cases against six IPS officers, he added.

Gracing the occasion, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik praised the step taken by the Odisha Vigilance Department. While addressing the vigilance officers, secretaries and other Government officials, Patnaik said the Government has now established 11 Special Judge Vigilance Courts in the State in order to speed up prosecution of cases and early disposal of cases under trial. One court at Phulbani is yet to become functional soon, he said, adding, the State Government has established two courts of authorised officers at Bhubaneswar and Cuttack to conduct the confiscation proceedings.   

Attending the occasion, Chief Secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik said that only vigilance could not eradicate all the corruption from the society, we should bring some changes in the mindset of the public servants and which could be created through the awareness programmes like this.

Among others, Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani, retired senior IAS and IPS officers of the State and Chief Vigilance Officers were present. Prizes were distributed by the Chief Minister distributed prizes to the best vigilance officers and winners of various competitions organised by the Vigilance department. Sambalpur Vigilance division became the best Vigilance Division, Rourkela Vigilance Unit as best Vigilance Unit, Sisir Kumar Bhoi of Koraput division was awarded as the best Public Prosecutors on the occasion.