Nagarajan Vittal feels that tackling corruption is too harmful if a task vested with the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) alone. "Its like the homily that managing war is dangerous in the hands of generals," he says. Nevertheless, this 61-year-old bureaucrat has realised that he must do his bit, in fact take the lead, in taking on what has become a disturbing fact of life.
So after a relatively uneventful 16-month tenure since his office was conferred statutory powers by the Supreme Court, Vittal decided to drop a bombshell last week by listing the names of 88 corrupt ias officers and 21 ips officials. The move rattled babudom. He went one step further and put it on the web, detailing their crimes and the penalties which needed to be imposed. In addition, a deadline of six months has been stipulated for action. Secretaries, chairmen-cum-managing directors, joint secretaries, digs and SPs - all formed part of the rogues gallery.
"Public pressure will mount and concerned government departments will now be forced to take action," says Vittal. But more importantly, Vittal feels that it was time to implement his pet theory of zero tolerance to corruption. Taking a cue from New York mayor Rudolph Giulianis methodology to tackle crime, Vittal maintains that his meticulously drawn out 13-point action plan (see box) will limit, if not stamp out corruption. "Giuliani focused on the petty and small infractions of the law instead of the large crimes," says Vittal. And this counter-intuitive approach by some curious quirk resulted in not only nabbing scofflaws but the big-time criminals.
Knowing that the guilty rarely get punished largely because of the slothful judicial process, Vittal wants to explore other areas within his jurisdiction. A quick look at the cold facts will explain why.
India, says Vittal, is ranked 66 out of 85 countries in the Corruption Perception Index, 1998, put out by Transparency International, a German NGO. "My goal as CVC is to see Indias rank to at least 40 if not 30 before I hand over charge on September 2," says Vittal.
Moreover, the conviction rate in Indian courts is only 6 per cent. The average time taken for disposal of cases ranges from 10 to 20 years. And as far as anti-corruption cases handled by the Central Bureau of Investigation are concerned, 1,173 cases are pending investigation, 501 cases of which are of less than a year old, 644 cases between one and five years and 28 cases are of over five-year vintage.
"It is pathetic. We have to look at other ways and methods to check the rot," says Vittal. Pursuing corrupt officials is just one small step. Enacting a Freedom of Information Act as also widening the ambit of the Consumer Protection Act where citizens can complain against corrupt officials are other fronts envisaged by Vittal for people participation.
One of his recommendations, already under implementation, is causing embarrassing moments for customs and immigration officials. The installation of closed-circuit TVs at the international airport in the capital to capture those accepting bribes from passengers has led to some measure of success. "Some officials, I later found out, were sticking chewing gum on the cameras to avoid detection," he says.
Vittal also hopes the government will set up a "Whistle-blower Act" where juniors squeal on their superiors in office and are ensured confidentiality, and implementation of the Corrupt Public Servants (Forfeiture of Property) Act, where assets can be confiscated without going through the existent cumbersome procedures.
But will these legislations ameliorate the situation where corruption has been institutionalised? "Certainly. If there is political will and popular backing, it can be done," says Vittal. In his reckoning, five key players exist in the landscape. "They are the neta (politician), the babu (bureaucrat), the lala (businessman), the corrupt jhola (NGO) and the dada (criminal)," he says. And if the system is able to delink the politician-business-bureaucrat triad, maintains Vittal, the battle is won.
As a start for this fight against corruption, Vittal suggests that some basic steps be adopted. Simplification of rules and removing red tape - thus reducing the scope of corruption - and transparency and effective punishment being among the measures. "Today, corruption is a low-risk and high-profit business. For the principle of zero tolerance to work, effective and prompt punishment should increase the risk," he says.
The failure to tackle corruption with a firm hand has bred contempt for the law, he feels. "When there is contempt and this is combined with the criminalisation of politics, corruption flourishes," says Vittal. Then, the honest public servant who tries to implement the law becomes a misfit.
Probably inspired by this philosophy, Vittal has decided to go public on the corrupt civil servants and police officials. "Now it is out in the open, it will be a sufficient deterrent to others. This adverse publicity will certainly make them think twice," maintains Vittal. Further, he believes this will spur people to react. "Of the 9,200 complaints of corruption received by my office, the lions share came directly from diverse sources," he says.
Vittal is equally vocal about the supply side of corruption. "The bribe-giver is also guilty. Look at the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha case where the bribe-giving person, even if he is an MP, is guilty," he says. In this connection, he has appealed to the various chambers of commerce to come together and emulate the 34 oecd countries who have signed the anti-bribery convention, ensuring their members will not offer bribes. He wrote to captains of industry in ficci, Assocham and cii in November last year. "Surprisingly, there has been no response. But I will remind them again."
For his lofty and get-up-and-go ideas to work, Vittal realises that he needs a political class which will back him to the hilt. He somehow gets the feeling that this government has the spunk. "The prime ministers address to the nation after the elections mentions zero tolerance for corruption," he says. And he claims that he has not received contrary signals.
"Indira Gandhi said corruption is a global phenomenon, Chandrashekhar said an inspector was adequate for the Bofors case and Deve Gowda likened corruption to diabetes - controlled but not eliminated," he says. "The prime minister concurs with my ideal to wipe out corruption."
Some of Vittals contemporaries vouchsafe for his integrity and original thinking. "But his weak point is that hes impulsive and that can be a risk," says a long-standing colleague. Vittal disagrees. "I arrive at most decisions or embark on programmes after much thought." At the same time, he realises he has a monumental task ahead of him. Snuffing out corruption in a society which thrives on it and has sought to legitimise it has to go beyond the pale of ideals.
So does Vittal go down in history as one among the many social and political crusaders who tried but failed for probity in public life? Some did it for fame, some for publicity and some because they were committed. The hall of fame is littered with names such as G.R. Khairnar, Arun Bhatia and T.N. Seshan. Vittal shrugs. " I dont really care. Its better to be a first-rate Vittal than a second-rate Seshan."
