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Provision of General Charges in Civil Engineering
Circularstaff-establishmentOpen the third-party archive copy
| Type | VCRC archived Railway commercial circular / manual |
|---|---|
| Topic | staff-establishment |
| Archive source | vcrc.in |
Summary
Provision of General Charges in Civil Engineering Director Vigilance (Special Squad), and Vigilance-II & Vigilance
Text of the circular
1 CHAPTER I RAILWAY VIGILANCE ORGANIZATION AND ITS ROLE 101. Definition of Corruption: 101.1 The demon of corruption dates back to times immemorial. As early as the fourth century B.C., Kautilya wrote in his treatise, “Arthashastra”, “Just as it is difficult not to taste the honey or the poison that finds itself at the tip of the tongue, so it is difficult for a government servant not to eat up, at least, a bit of the king’s revenue.” He has referred to as many as 40 ways of committing embezzlement of the treasury. However, he pointed out that it was difficult to get hold of these unscrupulous functionaries: he wrote,“Just as fish moving under water cannot possibly be found out either as drinking or not drinking water, so government servants employed in government work cannot be found out (while) taking money (for themselves)”. His solution: have a group of trusted spies to keep watch on the corrupt and nab them when they are at it. 101.2 Although modern-day Vigilance has little to do with espionage, yet the essence of its very existence lies in being the foremost agency to combat corruption. Even though corruption is a much used - and abused- term, it is not easily defined. The Santhanam Committee attempted to define corruption as “improper or selfish exercise of power and influence attached to a public office or to the special position one occupies in public life.” The menace of corruption has spread far & wide and has taken deep roots, eating into the vitals of our system. It is evident that qualities of tremendous resolve, capability and tenacity are required to take on this hydra-headed monster headlong. A vigilance organization blessed with such qualities is truly well-equipped to combat this problem tooth & nail. 102. Evolution of the Vigilance Organization: 102.1 Tales of corruption on Indian Railways go back to pre- independence days when various companies operated their own Railways over various parts of the country. The wages of station staff were pegged at very low levels and it was well known that they collected “bakshish” or “mamul” from the public for their services. The Company Management would just look the other way, as long as extra money was given voluntarily and there were no public complaints about it. 102.2 However, it was the Second World War that became the watershed in the history of corruption on Indian Railways. The Government stepped up expenditure on supplies & contracts, which led to unprecedented opportunities for acquisition of wealth by dubious means. War- time controls and scarcities led to avenues for corruption to flourish. In the rail sector, the bulk of resources got mobilized for the movement of military forces & material, which led to ever-shrinking facilities for movement of other commodities. Thus was born the system of priorities, in order to regulate goods 2 movement. Shortage of wagons placed a premium on carrying capacity, which was encashed by unscrupulous functionaries. Scarcity of coaches led to overcrowding in passenger trains, which resulted in passengers paying extra money to secure accommodation. (a) Special Police Establishment - Recognizing the gravity of this problem, the Government established an agency to combat it, namely, the Special Police Establishment (SPE), in terms of the Delhi SPE Act, 1946. The Prevention of Corruption Act 1947 was also passed as an endeavour in this direction. (b) Indian Railway Enquiry Committee - In the Railway sector, the Indian Railway Enquiry Committee was appointed in 1947 to undertake a general survey of Railway working. This Committee recognized the evil of corruption and stressed the need to tackle it. The first organizational response in this direction came in the shape of Railway Board’s decision in April, 1948 to establish an independent Anti Corruption Department on each Zonal Railway for the prevention, detection and departmental investigation of cases of corruption. In order to avoid any conflict with working of th
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