Kerala vigilance director orders checks on revenue dept offices
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Close on the heels of a farmer’s suicide at Kozhikode allegedly due to the harassment of a village officer, Vigilance Director Loknath Behera has ordered the Vigilance SPs to conduct surprise raids at all the offices under the Revenue Department, including village offices in the state, once in a month.
Behera gave the instructions on Friday clearly indicating widespread irregularities at the village offices in the state. Behera also wrote to the government requesting them to improve the functioning of village offices.
Earlier, the Vigilance received umpteen complaints pertaining to the irregularities and corruptive practices prevailing in the village and taluk offices. The complaints were more about the delay in providing certificates for various purposes and accepting bribes for land tax payment. The SPs are also directed to submit a report on the findings in the raid and all reports will be handed over to the Home Department for recommending action against them.
The SPs are also told to submit a review report soon on the present scenario in village offices.
According to the Vigilance sources, more action will be taken based on the complaints received through emails, letters and through toll-free numbers. Last month, the Vigilance has found irregularities in 40 village offices out of 60, and also found the Revenue Departments in the state are at the second position in terms of corruption in government sector.
Findings
In Kollam district, the Vigilance found that many applications were not included in the official register and they did not give receipts for the applications to the public.
In Alappuzha, 37 mutation applications of 2016 were also found pending.
In T’Puram, 135 mutation applications were found pending.