The humble CVC
It was great to meet the Central Vigilance Commissioner, Mr P Shankar, a man of deep humility in spite of his eminent position – He is one of the very few public servants in the country who does not have a boss. But that makes him more responsible. With his sharp wit and pleasant manners, his concern for curbing corruption and at the same time protecting the honest officers and his understanding of the difficulties of the bureaucrat – after all he has been one for more than three decades – he was undoubtedly the star of the two day workshop on Central Excise in Hyderabad. A very net-savvy person, he had visited the office of the DG, Systems of Customs and Central Excise to personally find out how the department was implementing the e- programmes.
He is deeply concerned about the availability of government notifications and orders on the web. He was very much impressed when I told him that TIOL was making available Notifications and circulars of the Revenue Department absolutely free to all through its website immediately after they are issued. He not only informed this to his colleagues in the Commission but made a mention of this in his address in the workshop the next day.
Officers of Doubtless Integrity (ODI): The CBI in collaboration with the Vigilance maintains a list of Officers of Doubtful Integrity, who are under watch unknown to them. A Customs Commissioner suggested to the CVC that they should maintain a list of officers of proven integrity and any complaints against these officers should be ignored. The CVC replied that the assumption is that most of the officers are honest and there are only a few officers whose integrity is doubtful. Once a list of honest officers is made, all others would be deemed to be dishonest.