Graft complaints to CVC rose by 79 per cent; crosses 63k mark in 2014

New Delhi, Feb 15: More than 63,000 corruption complaints were received by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in 2014, a rise of 79 per cent over the preceding year.

The anti-corruption watchdog said it received 63,288 complaints last year as against 35,332 in 2013. These complaints include those filed by whistleblowers and anonymous complainants.

"The commission has processed a record number of corruption complaints in the last year. All of them were dealt with within the prescribed time-frame," a CVC official said.

The complaints were related to allegations of corruption in various central government ministries and departments, he said. The total of 63,288 is based on CVC's monthly reports for 2014.

The final figure may go up or come down. "The final figure will be mentioned in the Commission's annual report, which is tabled in Parliament after June every year and then made public," the official said.

Most of these complaints did not require any action due to lack of verifiable allegations and were merely filed as per the CVC corruption handling policy. Rest of them were sent to Chief Vigilance Officers of the ministries concerned for necessary action and report, he said.

The anti-corruption watchdog had received 37,039, 16,929 and 16,260 complaints in 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively, according to its annual reports.

Similarly, 14,206 and 10,142 complaints were received in 2009 and 2008, respectively. In 2007 and 2006, the Commission had received 11,062 and 10,798 complaints, respectively.

Also, 9,320, 10,735, 11,397 complaints were received by it during 2005, 2004 and 2003, respectively, as per the annual reports.

PTI