Is prime minister Manmohan Singh candid about fighting corruption? Ever since the groundswell in support of Anna Hazare’s protest brought government to its knees, Singh has reiterated in parliament and outside it, “Our government is committed to fight against corruption.” But where really is its much-touted will? A new report says that in the 14 years, successive governments have allowed prosecution of only 1.73 percent of government employees in cases of corruption. The rest, 98.27 percent have been allowed to go scot free.   

So far as the Manmohan Singh government is concerned, it has withheld permission to prosecute 30,658 corrupt officials, out of a total of 31,624 who have been charged by the central vigilance commission (CVC). Since 2004, the UPA government has sanctioned only 966 of the cases, which speaks volumes of the government's will, or rather the lack thereof, in fighting graft, according to the report. (The data for 2004 include cases sanctioned by the NDA government in its last year and UPA government in its first).

“Country’s main anti-corruption body CVC, registered 77,925 cases during 1996-2009 but the government has given sanction for prosecution only in 1,348 cases i.e. in 1.73 percent of the registered cases,” says the report prepared by New Delhi-based think tank Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR).

“As to how many of these 1.73 percent cases led to actual conviction is a matter of conjecture. It is scandalous,” said Suhas Chakma, director, ACHR.

According to the report, the CVC's record hasn't been any better in the recent months. “Only 52 cases were pending sanction for prosecution from various ministries of the government of India for over four months as of 28 February 2011.”

“The annual break-up of the sanctions were as follows: 1 case in 1996; 12 case in 1997; 27 cases in 1998; 60 cases in 1999; 51 cases in 2000; 53 cases in 2001; 51 cases in 2002; 127 cases in 2003; 120 cases in 2004; 141 cases in 2005; 150 cases in 2006; 192 cases in 2007; 138 cases in 2008 and 225 cases in 2009,” said the report, which is based on government’s data.  

During the NDA government,  the situation was the same. The NDA government sanctioned only 369 cases out of 37,734 cases registered with CVC, the report said.

The record of India’s premier investigating agency - the central bureau of investigation (CBI) is also poor. There were 1,116 cases registered in the CBI in 1990 which came down to only 731 cases in 2010.

“India’s premier investigating agency, the CBI, registered a total of 18,629 cases during 1990 to 2010. In comparison, the anti-corruption bureaus (ACB) of different states and union territory administrations registered a total of 57,851 cases during 1988-2009 under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988,” the report held. The report comes at a time where the government is facing widespread public anger in the light of massive scams being unearthed.

The report also criticised the Lokpal bill drafted by the incumbent government and said that there is no political will to address corruption. “The UPA government seeks to provide the same impunity under Sections 50 and 51 of the draft Lok Pal Bill 2011 by making false complaints punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall be less than two years but which may extend to five years and with fine which shall not be less than twenty five thousand rupees but which may extend to two lakh rupees,” Chakma added.