Central Vigilance Commission Website: A Bold Anticorruption Experiment
Abstract In an effort to propagate the idea of zero tolerance for corruption, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in India has begun to share with citizens a large amount of information related to corruption. The CVC website has published the names of officers from the elite administrative and revenue services against whom investigations have been ordered or penalties imposed for corruption. Newsweek magazine carried an article about this effort, calling it E-shame. Application Context In the Transparency International rankings for 1999, India was placed 73rd among the 99 countries rated. Corruption flourishes in India because it is perceived to be a low risk, high profit business. In service delivery, there is lack of transparency in rules and procedures, and significant delays in operations or functioning. The lack of transparency provides an opportunity for public servants to mislead citizens who have to transact business with them, and extract bribes. Certainly, the size of India's parallel economy (or black market), estimated at 40% of GDP, provides fertile ground for corruption to flourish. Equally important, the corrupt face little deterent. There are enormous delays in the prosecution of cases in courts. What is worse, the conviction rate is hardly 6% in criminal cases. There is a perception that corruption begins at the top, but senior bureaucrats are never investigated or punished. The main investigating agency – the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – has little credibility in the eyes of the public. The Central Vigilance Commission was set up in 1964 as a Government agency. Vigilance Commissions and institutions called Lok Ayukta have also been set up and in some states. These institutions are generally headed by retired public servants or High Court judges. Their effectiveness has been mixed. A New Approach In 1998, based on the directive of the Supreme Court, the Government converted the Central Vigilance Commission into a statutory body through an executive order. (A bill to formalize the statutory existence of the commission was under consideration of the select committee of the Indian parliament in 2001.) The newly independent commission has taken several initiatives, particularly in recommending the use of IT by banks and other public institutions to bring in transparency. One of the initiatives was the creation of a website; and one of the first actions (January 2000) was to publish the names of senior officers who were charged with violating conduct rules. The CVC website contains the following sections/features through which the CVC communicates with the public:
1.
The commission informs the public about its role, responsibility, and strategies to combat corruption. This is an effort keep the agenda of fighting corruption alive in the public mind.
2.
The commissioner communicates directly with the public through messages and speeches to bolster confidence in the institution.
3.
Instructions for how any citizen can lodge a complaint against corruption, without fear of disclosure or reprisal.
4.
Central Vigilance Officer's List: each organization is expected to nominate a senior officer to
5.
Statistical reporting of the achievements of the Commission (Annual Report).
6.
Details of convictions of public servants by the courts are also presented, along with Information
whom an employee can take a complaint on corruption.
on officers from the All India Services against whom an enquiry has been initiated or a penalty imposed. This section also highlights the performance of various departments responsible for conducting investigations. Althogh the public at large often knows who is a corrupt public servant, there has been no systematic method by which this information could be brought to the notice of either the CBI or the Income Tax department. A new feature of the CVC site will now increase the risk element for the corrupt whose ill-gotten wealth is stashed away in the form of black money, foreign accounts, benami bank accounts (wealth hidden under false names), jewelry and other valuables, benami property, etc. Members of public can now report information against a public servant about possession of black money or assets, which are believed to be disproportionate to his known sources of income. The Commission would scrutinize the information so received, and if the information is considered sufficient for carrying out detailed investigations, the CBI or the Income Tax authorities would be advised accordingly. The Commission clearly states that it does not entertain anonymous or pseudonymous complaints. However, the identity of the complainant can be protected if he/she so desires. Section 182 of the Indian Penal Code makes it a criminal offence for a person to report about a public servant any information which he knows or believes to be false. The CBI and the Income Tax Department have schemes under which informants are rewarded for the infomation they provide. The informants who provide information under CVC notification also will be eligible for such rewards. Implementation Challenges The display of names of the senior officials of the Government of India – including IAS and IPS officers – on the CVC website in January 2000 caused a mild furor in the media. According to the CVC, the publication of these names was intended to meet a long-standing demand of the media for information about senior officials facing corruption charges and inquires. (The general perception of the public was that this kind of negative publicity appeared only against mid-level or junior officials.) Over 90 percent of those polled by the Hindustan Times welcomed the action. However, some newspapers decried the publication of the list in their editorials. Many citizens would conclude that a person is corrupt if their name appears on the website. But, in fact, only an inquiry had been ordered, which might ultimately exonerate the person.
One of the IAS Associations passed a resolution against the CVC stating that publication of a name on the site could bias the process of departmental inquiry/action. Under the law, no defamation has been caused by publicizing the names of the charged officers; yet the general perception seemed to be that the CVC website exposed a kind of a rogues gallery. In response to these criticisms the CVC argued that all it had done was to extend to the departmental inquiries a practice that is as old as the Indian Penal Code in criminal cases. Under criminal law, when a person is accused he is legally innocent untill proven guilty; but the name of the accused enters the public domain. Benefits and Costs Some of those whose names have appeared on the CVC website occupied sensitive positions in government. It is a common principle in government that if a person is facing a vigilance inquiry, he should not be placed in a sensitive post. However, this practice was not being followed in India. That is one reason why corruption has flourished in the system. The CVC site brought this issue to the fore. Another positive outcome from the site is that several people whose names appeared complained that they had never even been served with a charge sheet. Lengthy delays in the conduct of a departmental inquiry help corruption to flourish. Delay provides a cover of respectability for the guilty. Worse, perhaps, is that if departmental inquires are delayed, an innocent person may become a victim of mindless departmental procedure. His career may be ruined due to delays in getting his name cleared. The CVC now sends a monthly reminder to all departmental authorities so that the disposal of the cases may be expedited. The CVC aims to have all departmental inquires completed within six months. The question may be raised whether in a country like India, with a low computer density, a website like the CVC's can be an effective anticorruption tool. By September 2001 only 150,000 hits had been registered on the site. Fortunately, India has a free and vibrant press. Both print media and the radio have been able to transmit the content of CVC website throughout the country. Thus, the site has had a much bigger impact than what could be expected based on India's computer density alone. Key Lessons Although a large volume of information is available on the CVC website, only certain specifics were picked up by the media. The publication of the names of high-placed members of government attracted significant media attention. However, when sensitive information is shared, the media must also have the ability to analyze and draw conclusions. The media will need to be educated (and educate themselves) in order to perform such a role effectively. The CVC experiment may embolden other agencies like public banks to publish the names of willful defaulters. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India has announced that the Reserve Bank is examining this issue. Similarly, there were reports that the Department of Company Affairs was thinking of publishing the names of its defaulters.
Despite the fact that Indian society has become insensitive and cynical about corruption, the website seemed to cause some stirring of conscience. Officers whose names were published were indeed shamed. In an article, the CVC commissioner noted that some of these officers came and cried before him saying that their children were asking why their names were on the website. A poll by the Economic Times, a leading business paper of India, reported that 83 percent of respondents believed that publishig the names of charged officers on the CVC website will have a deterrent effect. Other websites run by Indian NGOs have begun to focus on corruption. For example, Tehalka.com exposed a major bibery scandal in the defense department by publishing a secretly filmed video clip on its website. Overall, Web publishing has emerged as an interesting new instrument to promote greater transparency and improved governance.