1. Home
2. Opinion

Probes in corruption cases

Kashmir Times. Dated: 1/11/2013 1:21:42 AM

J&K govt appears to be expecting too much from SVO on investigations

The state government wanting speeding up of investigations in corruption cases by the State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) appears to be asking for too much from the law enforcing agency under the given circumstances when probes are politically motivated or otherwise. The government is fully aware of the responsibilities of the SVO and its men besides the large number of cases pending investigations and prosecution for years together. It is also no secret that most of the cases in which the investigations have been completed are sent to the government for seeking permission to prosecute the officers. And then for years the permission to prosecute is pending and in certain it does not come and in the process, files are completed and consigned to records for gathering dust in the corridors of power. Apart from this, it is also public knowledge that more than 70 percent corruption cases result in acquittal of the accused officials in the first stage itself as per the records available from the SVO. Only 20 percent cases are tried and reach the second and third stage while only 10 percent accused are convicted mostly the officials from the lower rungs of the administration. The cases pertaining to senior officers, bureaucrats and politicians are usually only registered for investigation but no headway is made because the entire process is low and tardy and do not appear to be reaching any logical conclusion. The fate of cases in a corrupt state like J&K which is regarded as one of the most corrupt states can be well imagined when permission for registration of cases is also sought from the highest quarter of the government. Moreover, it is no surprise that despite registration of corruption cases, some of the officers in the administration continue to enjoy plum postings from the state government. Under such circumstances, where are the investigations against the corrupt officers heading can be anybody’s guess.