Assam to Setup State Vigilance Commission

Guwahati, Jul 7 : Assam government has decided to set up a State Vigilance Commission (SVC) similar to the Central Vigilance Commission which will probe any form of corruption or malpractices in the functioning of government departments.

The state cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposal for the commission and would be tabled in the next assembly session to pass a law.

An official statement said the SVC would be set up with legal protection of its members and would be empowered to not only probe corruption in government departments but with sufficient powers to summon officials for questioning and investigation.

“The state cabinet decided to set up a state level vigilance commission which will be empowered to carry out impartial inquiry into the functioning of government departments. The members of the commission will have sufficient power to summon government officers and this commission is aimed at bringing more transparency in the functioning of government departments,” said a senior state government official.

The members of the SVC would have sufficient power and government would not be able to remove them without permission from High Court.

The development comes after huge financial scams came to light in government departments in the state’s Dima Hasao district (formerly N C Hills) where crores of money meant for development purposes were either siphoned off to militants or were misutilized. CBI and the NIA are currently probing the scams and anomalies in the district.

The government official said the SVC would prevent corruption in government departments and ensure proper implementation of government schemes meant for public in the state.

The state cabinet also decided to set up a state co-operative university at upper Assam district of Sivasagar. Assam is the first state in the entire Northeast to set up a co-operative university, the official said. The university would be named after former Minister Rajiv Gandhi.