Preventive Vigilance as a management function - CBDT Chairman's letter to officers

By Vijay Kumar

THE CBDT Chairman, Mr. Sushil Chandra in a letter to all the Principal Chief Commissioners says,

This year Vigilance Awareness Week is being observed from 31st October to 5th November, 2016. Vigilance, however, is not a stand-alone activity and the focus on vigilance should not be limited to the duration of the Vigilance Awareness Week only. It is a management function to be exercised by all supervisory authorities for overall risk management in any organization. A supervisory officer cannot absolve himself from vicarious liability if the supervisor who has the right, ability or duty to control the activities of a subordinate does not take steps to prevent the acts of misdemeanour by the subordinate.

Rule 3(2)(i) of the CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 mandates that every Government servant holding a supervisory post shall take all possible steps to ensure the integrity and devotion to duty of all Government servants for the time being under his control and authority. Therefore, it is necessary that Supervisory Officers conduct necessary checks so that officers and officials maintain absolute integrity and complete devotion to duty.

Inspections & reviews are important preventive vigilance functions and periodical inspections of the work of a subordinate can give timely alerts about any wrongdoing by officers. However, I am constrained to point out that the laid down procedure for conducting inspections/ reviews by the CCsIT, the CsIT and the Addl.CsIT is not being followed and only about 25% to 30% of the targeted inspections have been conducted in the past 2/3 years. I request you to give your immediate attention to this area and ensure that the targets and timelines in this regard are strictly adhered to. DDT

Any new initiatives/ ideas in the field of Preventive Vigilance may be shared with me by email on chairmancbdt@nic.in so that the same can be duly considered by the Board for replication in other Regions also.

CBDT Chairman's D.O. Letter F.No.DGIT(Vig.)/PV/2016-17/4559., Dated November 04, 2016