Before having a look at some of the recent corruption cases in the north-western region states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, it may not be out of context to make symbolic reference to some of the sources which bred corruption.

Time was when quota/permit raj was the biggest source of graft. Then it was telecommunications scams whose first biggest ‘beneficiary’ was Himachal Congress leader Sukh Ram from whose residences huge amount of money was recovered. The latest in the list is A. Raja of DMK, a coalition partner in the Congress-led UPA government. By his questionable allotment of 2G spectrum, he has created new records in India’s history of scams.

After telecommunications, it is the Commonwealth Game and the land scams including those in Karnataka and Maharashtra which have hogged media headlines. If it has been the mounting evidence of involvement of BJP’s Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s family in land scams, it is scores of politicians and Defence personnel who are involved in the Mumbai’s Adarsh Housing Society scandal. The Society has built multi-storied apartments on the land meant for the Kargil war victims.

Corruption also recognizes no political entities. People have not forgotten the scandals, including the Bofors, during the Congress rule and former BJP President Bangaru Laxman’s being caught on camera accepting bribe. What is more shameful is the rehabilitation of the corrupt leaders.

Although states including Bihar and UP ruled by regional parties or their alliances have grievously suffered because of their dominant regional leaders corrupt practices, the states where national parties or their dominated alliances have been in power have also been the victims of corrupt practices of their ruling leaders. The reference is to the nearer home states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

In Punjab, the 2002-2007 Capt. Amarinder Singh-led Congress government instituted corruption cases against Akali leaders including former (and present) Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his family members. Amarinder Singh was paid back in the same coin after the present Badal-led Akali-BJP government came to power in 2007. It registered cases against the Capt. and his family members. The Badals, however, recently secured their acquittal mainly because of the state Vigilance Bureau’s questionable conduction of the cases and also by ensuring that the prosecution witnesses –mostly government officials- turn hostile. The corruption cases against the Capt. and his family members are pending in the courts.

Political leaders charged with corruption seldom get convicted as before the courts announce their verdicts which take years to come, the accused return to power and manage to secure their acquittal.

Haryana’s Om Parkash Chautala and his sons who ruled the state in 1999-2005 find themselves charged with disproportionate assets cases. But unlike the investigation of the graft cases against some senior Punjab and Himachal Pradesh leaders by their states respective Vigilance Bureaus, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda entrusted the cases against the Chautalas to the CBI perhaps to avoid being charged with political vendetta by getting the cases investigated through the state Vigilance Bureau.

In Himachal Pradesh, it has mainly been the personality clashes between former Chief Minister (now Union Steel Minister) Virbhadra Singh, BJP’s former Chief minister Shanta Kumar and its present CM Prem Kumar Dhumal which, irrespective of the merits or demerits of the cases, led to the spate of cases against them.

Besides monetary deals, corruption also gets promoted through other forms like rehabilitation of indicted politicians and reinstatement of tainted government officials. If Congress’s long history of being the ruling party has made it a principal source of corruption, the BJP has excelled in rehabilitating its corrupt leaders. Besides Bangaru Laxman, the BJP has also rehabilitated some other leaders involved in corruption cases. They include Suresh Chandel and Pradeep Gandhi, former MPs from Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively. They were expelled from Lok Sabha in the cash-for-questions scandal. BJP President Nitin Gadkari, however, rehabilitated them as vice President of party’s All India Kisan Morcha and a special invitee of Chhattisgarh BJP’s state committee respectively.

Another example. Prem Kumar Dhumal began his current stint as Chief Minister with the slogan of “zero-tolerance” against corruption. The declaration was followed by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau arresting 44 officers including a 1988 batch IAS officer, an Additional SP-rank officer, a State Drug Controller and a Himachal Administrative Services (HAS) officer. A media report from Shimla, however, recently alleged that the government soon chose to go soft and quietly reinstated the officers and began dragging its feet on granting prosecution sanctions. Taking a tough stand on corruption cases, a division bench of Himachal Pradesh High Court has now directed the government to submit a list of officers who had been caught taking bribes and yet had been reinstated in service and given sensitive posts.

Corruption can never be eradicated. But, given the political will, it can be reined through drastic measures. One could be mandatory declaration of the details of assets acquired by those in power after joining politics. The other could be replacement of State Vigilance Bureaus by statutory independent Vigilance Commissions. But the million dollar question is: Will this happen given the fact that State Vigilance Bureaus have become the house maids of rulers to serve their partisan interests and for launching political vendetta against their opponents? (IPA Service)