CVC amends corruption complaint handling mechanism

New Delhi: The Central Vigilance Commission has introduced key amendments in its  complaint handling mechanism such as making it mandatory for people to provide mobile numbers while raising corruption-related plaints.

Besides this, it has also been decided that chief vigilance officers (CVOs), who act as a distant arm of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to check corruption, will inform people about the status of their complaints through an online platform.

The anti-corruption watchdog has also increased the timeline from one month to two months for CVOs to scrutinise and decide about action to be taken on complaints sent by the commission, according to a latest order.

It said complaints can be lodged with the CVC on www.portal.cvc.gov.in or on the commission's website www.cvc.gov.in under the link “lodge complaints”, which is available on the home page.

“For lodging complaint through the portal, it is mandatory for the complainant to provide mobile number so that an auto generated OTP can be sent on the mobile number of the complainant for authentication purpose,” the directive issued to secretaries of all central government departments and chief executives of public sector banks and insurance companies, among others, said.

The order said as soon as the complaint is registered on the portal, an SMS confirming its registration and containing the complaint reference number would be sent to the complainant.

The status of complaints lodged through the portal can be tracked through e-mode only, the CVC said in the order. The earlier practice of raising complaints through post will continue.

“Complaints can also be lodged with the commission by addressing a written communication/letter to the secretary, Central Vigilance Commission, Satarkta Bhawan, GPO Complex, Block-A, INA, New Delhi-110023,” it said.

The CVC receives complaints from various sources and such plaints are being processed through the complaint management system, which has been modified to provide end-to-end information to complainants. Complaints in which allegations are of administrative or non-vigilance in nature are also forwarded to CVOs, read the latest directive, which modifies the CVC's comprehensive guidelines on the complaint handling mechanism issued in December last year.

“In case it has been decided to send the complaint to the CVO concerned for necessary action, the complainant will also be informed about the same,” said the CVC's order.

In such a scenario, the responsibility of informing the complainant through the portal about the outcome of the complaint would lie with the CVO of the organisation concerned, it said. The status of complaints filed under the whistleblower resolution can now also be accessed online. The order said a reference number, generated for a particular PIDPI (Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Informer) complaint, would be communicated to the whistle blower through physical mode to allow him to track the status of that particular complaint.

The PIDPI complainant can track the status of complaint by entering the reference number provided by the CVC, it said. The order said the commission will not issue any acknowledgement for PIDPI complaints.

“The modifications in the complaint handling mechanism will help people in raising corruption complaints and its monitoring as well.  Complainants will also be able to check its status online as well,” a senior government official said.