An RTI reply has recently revealed that the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Mumbai registered only 23 FIRs in the last five years. RTI activist Jeetendra Ghadge, who filed the RTI, said that the watchdog agency in itself is corrupt and has a tendency to shrug off responsibility.
The data obtained from the ACB website shows that the agency in the Mumbai zone received 1,618 complaints in 2012. It then conducted inquiries into 184 complaints and a total of 1,240 complaints were forwarded to the head of concerned departments like Mhada, BMC, BEST, etc. Other 149 complaints were rejected and inquiries into 45 complaints are still underway. According to the reply, five complaints were converted into FIRs up to October 2012.
“Out of 1,618 complaints, the ACB finally lodged five complaints as FIRs. It claims that everything is fine in the state, however, that doesn’t hold true. How can it transfer complaints to the concerned departments? In the process, it is flouting the guidelines laid down by the Bombay high court,” said Mr Ghadge, who has been closely monitoring the workings of the agency.
The watchdog agency conducts two types of inquiries — open and discreet — in cases related to corruption. From January 2008 till October 2012, it conducted discreet inquiries into 647 cases of corruption, out of which 571 cases were shut and FIRs were lodged in only three complaints. In addition to this, they conducted 125 open inquiries and lodged 20 cases as FIRs.
Mr Ghadge said that due to the ACB’s callousness the conversion rate of complaints into FIRs is half. “Going by its rate, God only knows how many corrupt officials are convicted,” he added.
In 2012, the agency received 3,522 complaints of corruption in the state and forwarded 1,973 complaints to the concerned departments for inquiry, without conducting its own investigations. It conducted inquiries into 492 such cases and termed 341 cases as baseless.
While speaking to The Asian Age, ACB director general, R.P. Khilnani said, “The statistics appear to be flawed. I will first go through the allegations and then comment on it.”