Thiruvananthapuram: There will be no more ‘quick verification’ by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. Instead, there will be only ‘preliminary inquiry.’ State police chief and Vigilance director Loknath Behera has issued a clarification doing away with ‘quick verification’ as the widely discussed Supreme Court order in Lalita Kumari case had used the term 'preliminary inquiry'. According to a fresh directive by Mr. Behera, 'quick verification' was introduced in the VACB in 2008 to verify whether any petitions prima facie disclosed offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988.
But the Supreme Court judgment in the Lalita Kumari case ordered ‘preliminary inquiry’ to ascertain whether or not cognizable offence is disclosed in the petitions. “No such words like quick verification have been used by the Supreme Court. All quick verifications are inquiries only and, therefore, there is no justification for a new term called quick verification,” said the circular. The time limit prescribed by the court for preliminary inquiry is 15 days. It could be extended up to six months in exceptional cases.
