The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Panel favours naming corrupt officials in CAG reports

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 20, 2006
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Karnataka - Bangalore

Panel favours naming corrupt officials in CAG reports

Staff Reporter

Administrative Reforms Commission conducts public hearing on urban governance

DISCUSSING REFORMS: Administrative Reforms Commission Chairman M. Veerappa Moily (second from right) greeting Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in Bangalore on Tuesday. Other member of the commission (from left) Vinita Rai, A.P .Mukerjee and V. Ramacha ndran are seen. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

Bangalore: Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission M. Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said that one of the recommendations of the report the Commission will submit to the Union Government is that the names of officers facing charges of corruption or inefficiency, that in turn causes losses to the exchequer, should be included in the annual reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). At present it is only the designation that is mentioned.

This was one of the many issues that participants at the first ever-ever public hearing on urban governance conducted by the ARC felt about. Mr. Moily assured participants that hiding the names of such officers amounted to suppression of important information from the public.

Mr. Moily said the Commission was submitting an exclusive report on improving financial management, accountability and transparency in all walks of governance. The annual reports prepared by the CAG on different subjects are sent to the legislature of each state to be tabled during the budget session. This is discussed by the members to facilitate action by government of the day.

Vineeta Rai, V. Ramachandran and A.P. Mukherji, members of the ARC; Pradeep Singh Kharola, Joint Secretary of the Commission, and Shamim Banu, Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, were present.

Corruption

Participant after participant criticised the rampant corruption in all departments without any exception. They were angry with the bureaucrats and employees at the lower rung of the administration for their apathy towards the public, who sought information on various government welfare measures aimed at improving the condition the downtrodden.

Sriram, Secretary of the Bangalore Pourakarmikara Sangha, urged Mr. Moily to prepare a directory with details of the number of government departments and the welfare measures they should implement. He said there were 3,800 pourakarmikas (scavengers) in Bangalore on contract who were deprived of a minimum wage. No official was concerned about the sub-human conditions in which these Dalits were living.

A tearful V.G. Basavaradhya of Yelahanka spoke of the agony he and his family endured after the murder of his sister and her three daughters, due to the apathy of the police and Lokayuktha authorities, to whom he had complained.

Mangala Nagaraj of Civic Bangalore, Abdul Hameed Handanageri of Chikkanayakana Halli, R.V.Seshachala, Advocate, Venkatesh Babu of Madhugiri, T.K. Thimmaraja Setty, and Kriya Katte, an organisation involved in educating the public on the RTI Act spoke.

Earlier, the members of the Commission called on Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and held a meeting with him and other officials.

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