With anti-corruption phone calls tapering and political capital eroding, the Aam Aadmi Party government needs the Anti-Corruption Branch to deliver on promises of a corruption-free Delhi. Upasna Pandey reports.
The Delhi government’s Anti Corruption Branch is in a bitter turf war between the centre and the Delhi government. But it’s “business as usual” at the ACB which remains focused on investigating cases of corruption and bringing the guilty to justice.
ACB officials spoke with Rediff.com, on condition of anonymity.
“We are following the developments of the court but we continue to be focused on the task of attending to complaints of corruptions and investigations,” the official said.
While the legal battle over jurisdiction of the ACB is going on between the NDA and Delhi government, ACB officials are of the view that their mandate is to tackle corruption.
One of the biggest poll promises of the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi -- the anti-corruption helpline -- was re-launched in April and received tremendous response in the initial days, but is tapering off now. It was reported to have received 3,900 calls within seven hours of the first day of its launch.
The helpline, 1031, got around 5,000 to 6,000 calls in the beginning but it now stands at around 2,000 to 3,000 calls per day, say sources. There is a process of filtration and sorting of calls that are carried out based on the evidence provided by complainants. Calls received at a centralised call centre are managed by executives, senior level officials and AAP volunteers. There are also many complaints that are generic about some departments or teams or personal grievances. These may not be actionable. “We give a patient hearing to all cases and guide them,” adds a source.
Around 300 of the total calls received so far by the helpline “have been found fit for investigation and around 15 cases of corruption would have been registered so far. Most of these are against civic body employees and only a few against Delhi Police employees,” add ACB sources.
The conversion of complaints into cases may seem to be low, but the counter-argument offered is that “there is marked improvement in public awareness about functioning of various public agencies and government bodies, which is serving as a deterrent to corruption in day-to-day functioning of government offices.”
Any complaint of corruption reported at the helpline gets strengthened if there is evidence submitted by the complainant, which could be in the form of documents, audio or video recordings.
“It is important that when citizens approach us, they bring evidence. People bring in recordings and are willing to deposit their phones for investigations as well,” say sources.
“There are also instances when the complainant is not affected or directly involved in the case but we need to ascertain the motive of the complaint, to rule out mala fide issues,” adds an official.
The ACB was in the news when it started investigations against businessman Mukesh Ambani apart from a union cabinet minister and senior officials when AAP chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was in the middle of his 49-day stint in 2014.
"It is our mandate and we are trained and equipped to act against any corrupt officials in Delhi. There is definitely more fear among corrupt officials now and Delhi residents should keep the faith in us,” says a senior ACB official.
With anti-corruption phone calls tapering and political capital eroding, the AAP government needs ACB to deliver on promises of a corruption free Delhi. The ACB, however, can be best served if it stays away from the political limelight.
