Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the Home Department is planning to set up the State Vigilance Commission on the lines of the Central Vigilance Commission, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau here, has been wearing a neglected face for quite some time now.
Two top posts of the rank of ADGP and DIG have been left unfilled for more than a year and repeated pleas to provide more manpower to the anti-corruption machinery have been on paper for a long time. The decline in the performance of the VACB is also evident from the fact that the conviction rate that stood at 80.23 per cent in 2009 came down to 59.08 per cent in 2013.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had recently announced the state's plans for setting up the State Vigilance Commission. It may be recalled that former Vigilance Director Siby Mathews had recently said that vigilance action on cases was dragging indefinitely due to the lack of proper legal framework.
The Home Minister said he had given the Vigilance full functional freedom and as a result the body had started carrying out a series of raids.
A committee headed by Justice K.P.Balachandran had given a set of recommendations a year ago on ways of strengthening the Vigilance machinery. Unfortunately, these recommendations are yet to be implemented.
