Sindh Chief Secretary Fazlur Rehman has expressed inability to check the rampant corruption prevailing in the public-dealing departments, and has asked the Anti-Corruption Department to move cautiously in registering cases against corrupt officials.
Secretariat sources said on Monday that cases of corruption pending disposal were in thousands, and each time preparation for proceedings against corrupt official was "sabotaged" under "political pressure."
They said that during the past three years, only lower grade officials of the revenue, excise and taxation and police departments were booked for corruption, and added that other departments such as co-operative, agriculture, irrigation, education and health were no exception. They said there was not a single department, which could be cited as an example of corruption-free organisation.
The anti-corruption organisation is poorly staffed and the lower rank officials who conduct initial inquiry on a report are vulnerable to pressure, they said, adding that corruption within the anti-corruption department was another reason that many cases remained buried under discarded record.
" 'Right price for the right case' is the term for amicable settlement of the matter," sources said. They said that attempts were made to streamline the process of checking corruption by creating department-specific mechanism for each department, but so far all exercises have remained futile. Attempts were also made to ask the departments to make internal audit of accounts a regular exercise and preparation of reports for consideration and timely corrective actions, but the proposal had fallen on deaf ears, they said.
Sources said that the yearly audit by Sindh Accountant General which used to be a regular exercise was now no more. "There are unattended audit reports lying in various departments for want of observation compliance. Many of the accused have either retired or died and there is no one who can be held accountable for acts of omission and commission," they said.
They said that the Chief Secretary was unable to deal with corrupt officials as they invariably carry political support and are not amenable to any kind of discipline. "However, a proposal to restructure the Anti-Corruption Department is under way to deal with the prevailing situation," they added.