Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar Thursday warned the top officials of the state, including the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police, about increasing cases of corruption and said he will be closing monitoring their conduct and performance.
In a two-hour-long meeting with the senior officials at the Haryana Niwas in Chandigarh, the first such in-person meeting in about two years, warned of consequences if they failed to mend their ways.
“Short of naming any particular officer, the CM told the officers that there were a few of them whose conduct was not at par. He told them them he had specific reports. He said that there were questions about conduct of certain officers. Although he did not name anybody, but it was kind of a stern warning that there will be consequences if they do not mend their ways. At the same time, he also encouraged officers to keep up the good work”, a senior officer who attended the meeting told The Indian Express.
The meeting that was originally convened to review the implementation of government’s various public-welfare schemes, was majorly focused on how to curtail corruption in government setup.
“The CM told the officers that corruption was eating away credibility of the government. He said that we have to tackle the menace. Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police have to lead from the front. He also told the officers that they should not think that they have passed one examination [UPSC] and got into the services and they can get away by doing anything. He said that the government has to pass the examination every five years and that the officers, who would not mend their ways and whose conduct shall be found questionable, will be held accountable”, another senior officer told The Indian Express.
In the meeting, Khattar also announced that a high-power-committee against corruption shall be headed by the chief secretary. Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Additional Director General of Police (CID), Director (State Vigilance Bureau), Director General of Police and an officer from the CM’s office shall be this committee’s members. The committee, besides identifying the departments where red-tapism or procedural flaws lead to possibilities of corruption, shall also be suggesting the structural framework changes to the state government to plug the loopholes in the system that leads to corrupt practices.
