The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) will have a final say in case any central government department or Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) differs on granting sanction to prosecute corrupt babus, according to an official order.
The order was issued after changes were made last year inthe Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, officials said Thursday.
The amended Act asked the central government to prescribesuch guidelines as it considers necessary for sanctioning prosecution of apublic servant.
Following which the DoPT issued guidelines specifically todeal with disagreement between disciplinary authority (any central governmentdepartment) and the CVC in cases of granting the prosecution sanction, theysaid.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recommendssanction of prosecution of persons only in those cases in which they findsufficient justification for the same as a result of the investigationconducted by them.
As per the guidelines, in cases where the CVC advises grantof sanction for prosecution but the ministry/department concerned proposes notto accept such advise, then the case should be referred to the DoPT, which isheaded by Prime Minister, for final advice.
The cases, where the CVC declines sanction for prosecutionbut the ministry/department concerned proposes not to accept such advice,should also be referred to the DoPT for the final advice, it said.
In cases where the CBI has sought sanction for prosecutionand the CVC has recommended grant of sanction and yet the competent authorityproposes not to grant the permission, then such cases should be decided by theDoPT and its decision would be final, the guidelines said.According to CVC’s latest data, the sanction ofprosecution is awaited for more than four months in 45 cases involving 98allegedly corrupt government servants from different central and stategovernment departments.