Curbing corruption top national priority: Manmohan-admitted that the agitation for establishing a Lokpal has brought the issue of cleaning up country

Curbing corruption top national priority: Manmohan

Vinay Kumar

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presents the President's Police Medals for Distinguished Services to N.Surendran, DSP, SCB, Chennai at the 18th biennial conference of CBI and State Anti Corruption Bureaux in New Delhi on Friday CBI Director A.P.Singh looks on.

The HIndu Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presents the President's Police Medals for Distinguished Services to N.Surendran, DSP, SCB, Chennai at the 18th biennial conference of CBI and State Anti Corruption Bureaux in New Delhi on Friday CBI Director A.P.Singh looks on.

As anti-corruption crusade in the country continues, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday admitted that the agitation for establishing a Lokpal has brought the issue of cleaning up the country’s public life ``right at the top of the agenda of our national priorities.’’

Reaffirming his government’s commitment to expeditiously move forward on a comprehensive agenda of executive, legal and technology reforms to curb corruption and deliver good governance, Dr. Singh said the government was considering changing the laws to criminalize private sector bribery. ``We have introduced a Bill in Parliament to make bribery of foreign public officials an offence. Another Bill has been introduced in Parliament to provide protection to whistleblowers. The Judicial Standards and Accountability bill has also been introduced in Parliament,’’ he said.

Delivering the inaugural address at the 18th Biennial Conference of the CBI and State Anti-Corruption Bureaux, the Prime Minister expressed the hope that a strong and effective Lokpal would be established in the coming months. ``Whatever be the structure and functions of the Lokpal when it is established, the CBI as our premier investigating agency will continue to play a very important role in our efforts for ensuring probity in our public life,’’ he told the delegates.

Pointing out that the churning over the issue of cleaning up the public life which the society and the polity were witnessing today was good for the country, he said it was also marked by sharp differences of opinions and ardent advocacy of particular causes. ``Today, the tasks of ensuring transparency and accountability in the work of public authorities and of building effective mechanisms for punishing those who indulge in corrupt practices and protecting those who seek to expose wrongdoings have acquired an urgency as never before. I believe that we as a nation should seize this moment,’’ he said.

The Prime Minister asserted that the country should not and cannot afford to tolerate a malaise that ``hurts our economic growth, harms our polity, alienates our people, breeds an amount of cynicism, lowers our image internationally and is particularly harsh on the poor.’’ He said the Right to Information Act that was enforced six years ago remained a ``potent tool in ensuring transparency and accountability in our public life.’’ He emphasised that public authorities should voluntarily place as much information in the public domain to inform the people.

Dwelling upon the government’s recent anti-corruption initiatives, Dr. Singh said that India ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in June 2011. ``This will strengthen our anti-corruption efforts and facilitate international cooperation in trans-border cases of corruption. To meet the requirements of the Convention, we have introduced a Bill in Parliament to make bribery of foreign public officials an offence,’’ he said.

The Prime Minister said the government had recently decided in-principle to prescribe a three-month deadline for deciding on request of investigating agencies for granting sanction for prosecution of public servants. ``In fact, this deadline would also apply to requests for permission for investigation by the CBI. We have also decided that if an authority refuses to grant permission for investigation or sanction for prosecution, the reasons for such denial would have to be informed to the next higher authority. Delay in the trial of cases remains an area of serious public concern,’’ he said.

To reduce pendency of CBI cases under trial, Dr. Singh said the government has decided to set up a committee under a retired Supreme Court judge to review cases pending trial, which were more than 10 years old and suggest ways for their speedy disposal. He said the government had already sanctioned 71 Special Courts for CBI to fast track trial of cases chargesheeted by the CBI.

Though the Prime Minister recounted the anti-corruption steps taken by the government, he admitted that whatever ``we might do to minimise the opportunities for corruption, the sad reality is that we cannot build a totally fool-proof system.’’ He said there would always be some instances of corrupt practices in the work of public authorities. ``And, therefore, there is a need for speedy and thorough investigation into allegations of such wrong doings, followed by expeditious prosecution to bring the guilty to book,’’ he told the conference.

While lauding CBI’s standards and benchmarks for investigation which other agencies follow, Dr. Singh had a word of advice to the premier investigation agency. ``Premature publicity given to cases under investigation can harm the cause of justice. We must also not forget the distinction between a deliberate attempt at wrongdoing and honest mistakes, sometimes inevitable in decision-making processes under conditions of uncertainty,’’ he said.