It is unfortunate that despite the government taking a number of steps to curb the corruption, this scourge continues to remain as a big problem in J&K with new cases of corruption coming to fore every now and then. In this regard, two more cases of corruption have hogged the headlines whereby two government officials have been found involved in taking graft from the people after the Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths laid traps and successfully unveiled the activities of the delinquent employees.
In this context, the first case was registered by Jammu and Kashmir Anti Corruption Bureau under Section 07 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 at Police Station ACB Udhampur against a public servant posted as TA in BDO Office Gulabgarh, Mahore in District Reasi for demanding and accepting bribe from the complainant.
Reportedly, in this case the accused public servant demanded the bribe from the complainant for preparation of a bill pertaining to the RDD Work. As the complainant did not want to pay the bribe, he approached the Anti-Corruption Bureau for taking legal action against the accused public servant under law.
Consequently, the JE was arrested after the ACB laid a trap and caught him taking a bribe red-handed. In the other case, the ACB Jammu received a written complaint wherein the complainant has alleged that despite compliance with all the rules/ formalities to undertake construction of the house, Halqa Patwari Tikri, started demanding an illegal gratification initially ₹30,000 and then finally settled for ₹ 17,000 in lieu of allowing the construction work and also threatened the complainant that he will not allow construction to complete until the bribe amount is paid to him. On receipt of the complaint, a discreet verification was conducted, which confirmed the demand of bribe by the accused public servant and the case was registered at Police Station ACB Central, Jammu and investigation was taken up.
Subsequently, a trap team was constituted which laid a trap leading to revelation of aforesaid employee demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹17,000 from the complainant in presence of the witnesses. However in this case, the accused Patwari managed to escape from the spot. It is intriguing that such cases in J&K have exposed the alarming level of corruption which has plagued the system so much that it has become difficult for common man to expect execution of any work in government offices without greasing the palms of officials. It seems that the people at helm have drastically failed to contain the menace of corruption and whatever comes in public domain against corruption is purely rhetoric without any action plan.
There is no doubt in the fact that the successful traps laid by the Anti-Corruption Bureau reflect a positive and proactive approach but isolated actions alone cannot eradicate a menace that has spread its tentacles in each and every sphere of administrative machinery. There is an urgent need for revamping the mechanisms for vigil and curbing the activities of the corrupt elements by introducing measures that have the capability to eliminate the scope of bribe culture like in the case of making things time-bound, online and without the need of physical contact of the public with the employees. The need of the hour is to take steps by which corruption could be wiped out and public trust in governance is restored.
