States: Punjab; The Snare That Didn't Work

India Today
October 12,1998

PUNJAB
The Snare That Didn't Work

Prakash Singh Badal Badal's scheme to track down corrupt officers by offering cash rewards to informers flounders.

By Ramesh Vinayak

When he took over as chief minister of Punjab in February last year, Parkash Singh Badal declared his firm intent to root out corruption from the administration. In keeping with his promise to provide a rule reminiscent of the legendary Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he announced two schemes: an annual Rs 1 lakh award to the police officer deemed most honest and cash rewards to those who helped track down corrupt officials.

A year and a half down the line, the Government is yet to find a "suitable" officer for the honesty award. Under the second scheme, a sizeable Rs 66 lakh has been given as rewards to those who helped trap 260 officials. State government officers are, however, sceptical about the campaign's success. Says a top vigilance official: "The initial impact of the scheme petered out in three months and now it's a mere eyewash." Even Badal's close aides admit that not only has the scheme floundered, it has also failed to bring the kind of political returns the Government expected.

The reasons for this are all too familiar: in-built flaws in the system, political interference and bureaucratic delays in sanctioning the prosecution of officials charged with accepting bribes. Though Vigilance Bureau Chief Director K.K. Sharma insists that the impact of the scheme should be gauged from the rate of conviction, cynicism about its efficacy persists. "We are seeking a review of the scheme to make it effective," says Sharma.

Vigilance officials initially opposed the scheme. They felt that financial inducements to informers before the conviction would not only impede the prosecution process but would also increase corruption as the accused would try to win over the informer. Under the scheme, anyone who gives information about any case of corruption involving a gazetted officer gets a reward of Rs 50,000. For non-gazetted officers, the reward is Rs 25,000. Last year, Rs 33 lakh was disbursed after 119 officials were caught red-handed. This year, the Vigilance Bureau, which runs the scheme, has already exhausted the annual budget of Rs 33 lakh and is seeking more funds.

So far only a few cases have been brought to the courts, largely due to the tardy pace of investigations and delays in sanctioning prosecution. Very few cases have reached the trial stage. What officials find alarming is that informers who collected cash awards seldom appear as witnesses in court. "Most vigilance cases fall flat as the main witnesses resile during the prosecution," says an official.

Moreover, informers are ending up making a double killing. "The informer has no liability for the prosecution of the accused," says an official. "First, they get the cash reward from the state Government and then bargain with the accused to bail him out by resiling in court. It's leading to ridiculous trade-offs." The practice has also spawned a series of manipulated traps. "There is a perceptible increase in such cases," says Sharma. Already, there are reports of certain "professional" trappers using the scheme to enrich themselves by "investing" money on bribes to lowly officials.

Realising that the scheme is proving a financial drain without any perceptible impact, the state Government is now reviewing it in the light of the Vigilance Bureau's recommendations. The bureau has suggested that a part of the reward be given only if the case leads to conviction. The bureau also wants a part of the cash reward to be given to the vigilance official who nurtures the source and executes the trap.

Field officials say that the promise of reward often proves to be the sole incentive for people to come forward with information. But with hardly any successes to talk about, the anti-graft scheme is being exposed to be what it really is: a political stunt and a financial drag.

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