The Central Vigilance Commission has flagged 34 major cases of non-compliance by government departments that diluted its advice of acting against “corrupt” officials, said the annual report of the country’s top anti-corruption watchdog.

In some cases, these “corrupt” officials were either acquitted or punishment against them was diluted by the departments concerned, it said.

The CVC deals with corruption in government organisations and also supervises the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Of the total cases of dilution flagged, seven relate to the coal ministry, five to the State Bank of India (SBI), four to the IDBI Bank, three to the steel ministry and two each to the power ministry and NBCC (India) Limited, the CVC said.

One such instance each was related to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), railway ministry, Airports Authority of India (AAI), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), among others, the report said.

One case each of deviation from the CVC’s advice was also reported from the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd, Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), National Fertiliser Limited, Punjab National Bank and United India Insurance Company Limited, it said.

“Non-acceptance of the commission’s advice vitiates the vigilance process and weakens the impartiality of the vigilance administration,” said the report.

Giving details of a case of non-compliance by the coal ministry, the CVC said officials, including a project officer, a chief manager, three managers and a director of the Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) were found involved in irregularities in foreclosing, re-tendering and awarding of a contract for hiring of heavy earth-moving machinery.

The commission had in August 2018 tendered sa first-stage advice for initiation
of “major penalty proceedings against one project officer, one chief manager and
three managers of BCCL and other officials involved in the case”.

Aggrieved by the penalty imposed by the disciplinary authority, the project officer, the chief manager, three managers and the director preferred to appeal before the respective appellate authorities, who pardoned all the officials through their orders issued between June 2022 and June 2023.

“Exoneration of the officials from charges is a major deviation from the commission’s advice,” the report said.

“In the case of SBI..., a regional business office of the bank had incurred huge expenditure in shifting/renovation/repair work and purchase of fixed assets of new/existing branches without following the prescribed procedure,” the report added.

The expenditure for a particular work was split into parts to keep them within the delegated financial powers of lower-level functionaries and tenders were floated without following norms, the report highlighted.

After a department inquiry, the disciplinary authority imposed major penalties on the officials (an assistant general manager and a chief manager) against whom the commission had advised initiation of major penalty proceedings in October 2020, it said.

The appellate authority also considered their “lapses” serious and rejected appeals of both officials, the CVC report said.

The review committee, “even after observing lapses on their part”, modified the penalty to an administrative warning via its order issued in September 2022.