Friday, Jun 17, 2005
Friday, Jun 17, 2005 |
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Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Development Authority has recommended closure of a number of corruption cases against its senior officials pending in the Vigilance Department by claiming that those were "administrative'' in nature. Also, while it had convinced the Central Vigilance Commission that there are not vigilance matters, DDA has also managed a letter from the CVC for repatriating the Chief Vigilance Officer, Ameeta Saini -- who was keen on pursuing these corruption cases -- despite her tenure coming to an end on August 31. The developments of the past month have left officials bewildered as they come at a time when DDA was seen to be setting its house in order following CBI raids against corrupt officials a couple of years ago. "From the manner in which the CVO has been shunted out it is quite evident that the top bosses only want their `yes-men' in the senior posts and would remove the others, be they those on deputation or the DDA cadre personnel, if they are not found convenient,'' said a senior official. The cases which have been closed down relate to serious offences with regard to irregularities in change of land use, allotment of plots earmarked for auction along with alternate plots, allotment of residential plots in Rohini and illegal excavation of earth from DDA land. DDA officials contend that the top bosses are playing a deliberate game wherein they seek closure of cases from the CVC when the Lieutenant-Governor is opposed to the idea. After the first lot, officials said, efforts are on to get more cases recommended for closure. Further, the fact that most of these cases were against officials who had come on deputation to DDA shows that while bringing people from outside may not really help in improving the functioning or the image of the organisation, it provides a convenient tool in the hands of the top bosses to bring in people who would not oppose their plans. In the recent past, say DDA officials, there have been cases where senior officials have been made to sit idle despite their having a proved track record while others with doubtful integrity have been given sensitive posts. Worse still, some senior officials have been divested of their duties which have been handed over to more amenable junior officials. The recent developments also run contrary to the observations of a committee set up under Arjun Sengupta by the Prime Minister for giving more independence and autonomy to public sector undertakings. While DDA has been functioning as an autonomous body since 1957, the officials say still its own personnel are not allowed to take the important decisions while they are the ones who actually implement them. And while DDA has a surfeit of urban managers, administrators, professionals and technical people, those with no experience in urban management are given its top posts. A case in point is the post of the Principal Commissioner, which was created specially to curb the local cadre and bring in officials from outside who were then given the entire work of DDA's own senior officials. With key posts like that of CVO now up for grabs, apprehensions are rife that these may go to those very officials from the Lands and Housing departments whose activities had come under the scanner.
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