With the officialdom complaining of hassles being caused to them by a long line of vigilance probes, the Kerala government is all set to overhaul the vigilance machinery.
A three-member committee headed by justice K.P. Balachandran has been constituted to see how the vigilance machinery could be made more effective, and how to reduce the delay in investigations and trials.
Officers have been lamenting over the hassles they suffered after being implicated in vigilance probes “purely due to technical reasons” as they would put it. Careers of many officers suffered setbacks while cases prolonged for decades. The IAS Officers’ Association met on Monday in the backdrop of the arraigning of Sheela Thomas and Anand Singh in the Kasargod land transaction case.
Vigilance sources said the three-member committee with retired DGP Alphonse Louis Erayil and retired principal secretary Kuruvilla John as its members was constituted two months ago. Its report is expected in a couple of months.
About 400 such vigilance cases are currently under investigation. More than 700 cases are pending trial. Besides affecting the promotion prospects, many officers are not able to get their passports for foreign visits.