KOCHI: The state government on Monday submitted before the High Court that a preliminary inquiry is also necessary into allegations of corruption so that an honest public servant is not made prey to unnecessary registration of an FIR under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The state made the submission on a petition filed by Kollam native M K Salim seeking to quash the circular issued by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) director and the government making a preliminary probe mandatory before registering an FIR in corruption cases as well as necessitating the director’s nod for doing so.
According to the state, a drive against corruption cannot be reduced to a general witch-hunt. Or else, the system will lose focus and provide an excuse for officers to stop working. The practice followed by the CBI for conducting a preliminary inquiry before the registration of an FIR as per the CBI manual was upheld by the Supreme Court. In such a scenario, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau can’t simply decide to register a case merely on the basis of the allegation in the complaint.
There were instances in which because of the due haste and casual actions of the SHOs, many honest officers were being arraigned as accused and there were occasions in which the HC quashed the FIRs. From June 2, 2016 to March 29, 2017, a total of 344 vigilance cases were registered with various vigilance units in the state. Out of which, investigations into 58 cases were completed and 52 of them disposed of for want of evidence.
In nine cases, the FIRs were quashed by the HC. All these happened because no preliminary inquiries were done to establish a cognisable offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act before registering the FIR, the government submitted.