Vigilance Dept officials are threatening officers, alleges Atishi

New Delhi: Delhi Minister Atishi on Tuesday alleged that officers from the Vigilance Department are threatening, intimidating, and harassing officers from different departments into issuing illegal orders.

She also wrote a letter in this respect to the concerned departments.

"It has been brought to my notice that officers from the Vigilance Department are threatening, intimidating, and harassing officers from different departments into issuing illegal orders. Officers say that they get repeated phone calls from certain Vigilance Department officials, threatening them that if they don't issue the said orders, then enquiries would be opened against them and they would be suspended," read her letter.

Her letter said that the objective of the Vigilance framework is to ensure ethical organisations, systems and procedures of the government, and to curb corruption through preventive and punitive mechanisms.

Atiahi said that certain vigilance officers were misusing their authority and powers to pressurise officials to issue illegal orders, instead of working towards a clean and corruption-free administration.

"The Vigilance Manual (2021), issued by the Central Vigilance Commission, takes a strong view against harassment or victimisation of officials under the pretext of frivolous and vexatious vigilance matters. It unambiguously states that vigilance is intended to create an environment in which the honest can work fearlessly and the corrupt are punished promptly," read her letter.

"Threatening and intimidating a civil servant is not only a violation of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964, but is also an offence under inter alia Sections 189 and 503 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The Government of NCT of Delhi will not tolerate any such affront to the rule of law. However, action can be taken against such threats and intimidation only based on concrete evidence," her letter further stated.

Atishi said that if any officers working in GNCTD are threatened/ intimidated, and unduly pressurised into issuing illegal orders:

In case such threats are received over a phone call, they should record the phone call; and in case officers are called into the Vigilance Department and the threats are made in person, then the official who is being threatened or intimidated, should record the conversation on their phone recorder.

"These recordings are admissible as evidence in both disciplinary and legal proceedings. All such recordings must be submitted to the undersigned. Strongest possible action - both disciplinary and legal - shall be taken against those officers of Vigilance Department who are found to be threatening/ intimidating/ harassing other officers," she said in the letter.