LAHORE, April 11: On the proposal of the Anti-Corruption Establishment, all the provincial departments have decided to establish a vigilance cell to monitor the performance and check corruption of their staff.

Each department would nominate an (honest) officer of at least grade-17 to head the cell and coordinate with the establishment, ACE director-general Brig Aslam Ghuman (retired) told Dawn on Wednesday.

He said the step would help identify corrupt elements in the departments and the ACE would be able to institute strong cases against them. He said the cell would also perform the function of accountability within the department.

The establishment had around two years ago asked the provincial departments to set up vigilance cells in order to improve the performance and minimise public complaints, but they did not pay heed to the suggestion.

Mr Ghuman said the ACE was making all-out efforts to fight corruption, but the prime responsibility rested on the departments. He said the establishment recommended that all heads of the departments should set personal example of honesty and dignity to curb the corrupt practices.

The ACE chief said his department had suggested various steps to check corruption and asked the S&GAD to issue necessary instructions to all the departments, authorities, corporations and agencies to implement the suggestions.

These included the suggestion that the heads of the departments should be held responsible for corrupt practices prevailing in their setup and in no case should such responsibility be shifted.

The ex-officio additional directors and the additional secretaries of the administrative departments might be reactivated in the light of the provisions of the ACE rules of 1985. “If an ex-officio additional director or an ex-officio deputy director receives a complaint or gets information through reliable source regarding a serious case, he shall refer the same to the director.

“When an inquiry is held by the ACE, the accused official must associate himself in the proceedings. If he fails to do so, he may be placed under suspension till the finalisation of the proceedings against him.”

All the departments, authorities and corporations must prepare compendium by compiling copies of the laws, rules, policies and instructions as a priced publications available to everyone. Each department should update it once a year by incorporating amendments if necessary, he suggested.

They must also appoint a liaison officer who should maintain a permanent register for enquiries and cases.

The ACE had also proposed that it should be made mandatory for the departments and organisations to hold proper preliminary inquiries before submitting a formal reference to the ACE (to avoid any delay) in such cases.

The enquiries must establish fixation of responsibility, calculation of loss, listing of documents and witnesses and the appointment of departmental representative.

Mr Ghuman said he had repatriated more than 115 officials, including officers, for their bad reputation during the last three years. He said the establishment was setting an example by firing its corrupt officials. Recently three officers and five inspectors of the ACE had been suspended from service on the charges of corruption, he claimed.