GOOD INITIATIVE: VB to prepare negative list of tainted government employees

Lists to be updated after every fortnight for necessary action

Chandigarh, September 6, 2012:  In a bid to streamline the process of getting Vigilance Clearance for the retiring employees or those who are seeking the promotions, the Punjab government has introduced a new policy under which the Vigilance Bureau (VB) would prepare department wise negative list of the employees involved in any vigilance enquiry against whom FIR had been registered by them.

Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal cleared the proposal mooted by the Vigilance Department based on the recommendations of a three member committee comprising Secretary Personnel Anirudh Tiwari, Special Secretary Vigilance Arun Sekhri and Additional Legal Remembrancer (LR) BR Garg. Badal directed the Vigilance Department for implementing this policy expediously to prevent the employees from the inconvenience caused due to inordinate delay in seeking Vigilance Clearance Certificate.

The spokesperson said that in accordance of new policy the VB would supply a department wise negative list of the government employees against whom FIR had been registered by them at any point of time. The VB would be required to update this list after every fortnight for sending it to the respective administrative departments through the Vigilance department. The copy of this list would also be forwarded to the Administrative Secretary of the concerned department for information and the necessary action.  In between the period of these 15 days the VB would inform the administrative department regarding any significant development about the government employee of their department involved in the FIR.

Under the new policy the employee seeking Vigilance clearance for his retirement or promotion would have to submit a self declaration regarding his involvement/ non involvement in any case. After receiving the declaration the Head of the Department (HOD) of the concerned employee would check the negative and the updated lists provided by the VB and decide the case at his level if the name of employee does not figure in the negative list. However if the name of the employee figures in the negative list then the HOD would refer the case to VB for getting the latest status before taking any final decision regarding the employee.

The new policy stipulates a response time of 10 days, which include four days for the Vigilance Department and six days for the Vigilance Bureau, fixed for processing and sending reply to the administrative department. However if no reply is sent to the administrative department then it would be presumed that no case was pending against the concerned employee, the responsibility of which would be fully that of the VB. The VB would also upload the negative list of the employees and update it on daily basis on its under construction website having limited accessibility mainly comprising of the CVOs of the various departments.  

It may be recalled that earlier it was mandatory for the concerned administrative departments to send the cases for getting pension clearance certificate for the retiring government employees to the Vigilance Department one year prior to the date of his retirement. However as it was a long drawn process which consumed a lot of time and energy so all the retiring employees of the state government along with those seeking promotion had to face plethora of problems while seeking the Vigilance clearance certificate from the Vigilance Bureau (VB). Realizing the hardships faced by of employees and to ensure minimal inconvenience to them on this count, the state government had taken this path breaking initiative in continuance of its endeavor to pursue its flagship program of Governance reforms.