The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has asked the Chief Vigilance Officers of organizations and departments to finish investigations of cases in a time bound manner.

The  CVC issued this notice in wake of the April order of the Central Information Commission asking it to fix time-frame for getting responses from department whose officials were being investigated by it.

Mumbai based RTI activist Mohammed Afzal filed an application with the CVC under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Among other things, Afzal sought the action taken by the CVC on the order of the information commission.

Every time a complaint is filed with the CVC, it forwards the same to the concerned vigilant officers of the government department of the state where the complaint concerns.

As per the provisions of the vigilance manual, the CVOs are required to furnish investigations on complaints referred by the commission for investigation within three months of the date of receipt of such references.

“The commission observes that organizations/ departments do not adhere to the time limits prescribed and there is undue delay in submission of investigation reports,” says the CVC office order dated May 20, 2010.

The order, issued by Vineet Mathur and a copy of which is with Governance Now, further says that in those cases where completing the investigation within the specified time periods was not possible, the CVO of the department should personally look into the matter and send an interim report to the commission.