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The highest number of corruption complaints last year were against employees of the Union home ministry, followed by those working for the railways and in banks, according to the Central Vigilance Commission's latest annual report.
In total, 1,15,203 such complaints were received for all categories of officers and employees across central government departments and organisations in 2022, it stated. Of these, according to the report, 85,437 were disposed of and 29,766 were pending -- 22,034 for more than three months.
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has prescribed a time-limit of three months for chief vigilance officers, who act as a distant arm of the probity watchdog, to examine complaints, an official said. While the home ministry received 46,643 complaints against its employees last year, 10,580 were received by the railways and 8,129 by banks, according to the report.
Out of the total complaints against home ministry employees, 23,919 were disposed of and 22,724 were pending disposal -- 19,198 pending for more than three months, it said.
The railways had disposed of 9,663 complaints, while 917 were pending disposal -- nine for more than three months, the report, which was made public recently, stated. Banks had disposed 7,762 corruption complaints and 367 were pending -- 78 for more three months.
There were 7,370 complaints against employees of Government of National Capital Territory Delhi, it stated. Of these, 6,804 were disposed of and 566 were pending -- 18 for more than three months.
The report stated that 4,710 complaints were against employees of the housing and urban affairs ministry (including the Central Public Works Department), the Delhi Development authority, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the Delhi Urban art Commission, the Hindustan Prefab Ltd, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited, the NBCC and the NCR Planning Board.
Of these, 3,889 were disposed of and 821 were pending -- 577 for more than three months, it stated.
The CVC annual reported stated that 4,304 complaints were against those in the coal ministry (4,050 disposed of), 4,236 were against those in the labour ministry (4,016 disposed of) and 2,617 against petroleum ministry employees (2,409 disposed of).
There were 2,150 complaints against employees of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), 1,619 against defence ministry employees, 1,308 against Department of Telecommunications employees, 1,202 against finance ministry employees and 1,101 against those in the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the report stated.
The CVC report stated that 987 complaints were against those working in insurance companies, 970 against employees of the personnel, public grievances and pensions ministry and 923 against steel ministry employees, among others.