Jammu, January 28: There has been a debate on the cleanliness drive of a different kind in armed forces for a long time to make the forces a corruption free sector of India not only to keep the faith on our defence forces alive but also to overhaul the system that has remained inside iron walls since independence.
The debate sometimes was louder when allegations of corruption against some top officers of armed forces guarding the nation poured in while the general discussion on corruption in armed forces has always been sidelined due to nationalism attached to the working of the forces.
There was a time when a top general who had served in J&K had allegedly siphoned off crores in various deals which however was hidden under the carpet paving way for the general to reach to the zenith.
Later similar allegations were leveled against another top officer which also included connections with enemy nation again to be wrapped under the carpet paving way for him to reach to the top with his successor also attracting allegations of corruption.
Since then the debate has only grown louder with people demanding transparency in the working of armed forces particularly in financial aspects and other corrupt practices being carried on within the force thus calling for Swatchta Abhiyan in the armed forces.
The debate now seems to have reached to its logical conclusion with defence ministry stalling the promotion of two serving generals and handing over the case to CBI warning that the leniency regime has ended and it was now time to clean your hands before proceeding further.
While we have always given the benefit of doubt to the armed forces seeing their actions through the prism of nationalism it is imperative that we take-up the broom and initiate final cleanliness drive in the armed forces to maintain its credibility that only gets dented by such allegations.
According to a news report, “the defence ministry has asked CBI to probe complaints against two serving major generals for allegedly having assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.
The ministry had in September red-flagged the promotion of certain officers following allegations of impropriety.
“The defence ministry has forwarded to CBI complaints against these two officers and has sought a reply,” defence sources said on Thursday, adding that the government will not tolerate corruption at any level.
The CBI will now look into the complaints and report back to the ministry.
Giving a background to the case, sources said that a meeting of the Special Promotion Board of the Army was held last year to fill up the vacancy of three lieutenant generals for which about 33 officers were considered.
A set of names cleared by the board was sent to the defence ministry.
However, following the meeting of the board, a series of complaints against some officers surfaced, many of which were being circulated on the social media too.
Taking cognizance of the matter, defence minister Manohar Parrikar himself looked into the issue.
It was found that one of the two officers, against whom the ministry has roped in the agency, had faced a CBI inquiry few years back over allegations of corruption in a project undertaken by Border Roads Organisation, sources said.
The CBI did not find enough evidence for criminal prosecution. “They suggested that this does not fall in the ambit of criminality, it falls in the ambit of disciplinary procedure guidelines”, they added.
“BRO is a mixed cadre organization. The matter came to the Army. The Army said that the act pertained to civilian issues and hence action cannot be taken up by them. The matter got tossed from here to there as Army disciplinary proceeding is different from that of the civilians,” the sources said, adding the actual proceedings have not started.
In the meantime, his promotion came up and he got the discipline and vigilance (DV) clearance since there was no formal proceedings against him.
The Swatchta Abhiyan finally begins in armed forces!