Two years after it was set up by the then Congress-led Punjab government, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday moved a Bill to repeal the Punjab State Vigilance Commission Bill, 2022. It was passed unanimously in the Assembly.
Bhagwant Mann said that the Punjab State Vigilance Commission Act 2020, which was supposed to be enacted on the lines of the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003, suffers from serious deviations.
Moving a resolution, CM Mann said that the main function of the Commission was to enquire into complaints alleging offences by a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.
He said, “The Commission was also empowered to exercise superintendence and control the functioning of the Vigilance Bureau and police establishment in corruption cases. However, it is not serving any useful objectives except being a burden on the state exchequer.”
“There are multiple agencies in the state to deal with same set of stakeholders including full-fledged vigilance department. Therefore, to avoid overlapping, contradictory findings, resultant delays and gaps in communication, it has become necessary to repeal the Punjab State vigilance Commission Act 2020.”
Punjab State Vigilance Commission (Repeal) Bill, 2022, was passed unanimously by the Punjab Assembly. The Punjab State Vigilance Commission Act had come into force on November 13, 2020. Bhagwant Mann said that Punjab State Vigilance Commission set up under this Act has not achieved the desired objectives.
