Minutes of the first meeting held under M-PAC,

( Mumbai Pact Against Corruption)   at

Anti Corruption Bureau, Maharashtra , on 18-11-06 at 3:00 p.m

The first meeting of the M-PAC was held in the office of Addl Commr., ACB, Mumbai, on 18^th Nov 2006 at 1500 Hrs.. The following officers and NGOs & citizens attended the meeting:

1.         Shri Karkare Hemant, I.G., ACB

2.         Dr. Sarvade, Addl. Comm., ACB

3.         Col. Wasudeo, Brashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan

4.         Prof. Rana Mukherjee, Centre for Business Ethics, SIES College of

            Management Studies

5.         Harsha Vyas, Media Consultant

6.         Kumar Vyas, Media Researcher

7.         Canta Dadlaney, AIR

8.         Rajesh Ruparel, Civil Engineer and Developer

9.         Terence Nazareth, Software Professional

10.       A.V.Shenoy, Consumer Guidance Society of India

11.       Santosh Kasle, Vijay Kreeda Mandal, Bhandup

12.       Vinay Somani, Karmayog / NGO Council

13.       Tanya Mahajan, Karmayog

2.         At the outset, the participants were welcomed and informed about the objectives of the M-PAC which are, in brief, to create awareness, to empower citizens in fight against corruption and to channelise their grievances for redressal to the appropriate agency/official. These objectives are intended to be achieved with active collaboration of civil society.

3.         In the recently concluded Vigilance Awareness week, ACB had organised a seminar on “evolving ways and means of community participation in the fight against corruption”. The present meeting is an exploratory meeting on how to come together and find ways and means of getting civil society to tackle corruption. One of the yardsticks to evaluate success of our efforts could be the increase in number of complaints to ACB.

The meeting deliberated on these points and agreed on the following course of action:

          3.1 The M-PAC group will be restricted to certain aspects of corruption, such as

                what  the common citizen faces in different Government departments, and

                for this a short-term (3 month) and a long term (1 year) action plan will

                be drawn up.

3.2  Each participant present was requested to make a suggestion to tackle corruption which could be pursued by them.

3.3   Mr Rajesh offered video cameras to monitor BMC and other Government offices. He expressed that if someone was able to demonstrate that building proposals can be cleared without bribes, then that would give confidence to the community. This could be considered as a Case Study to identify the problems within the BMC Building Proposals Department and then suggest systemic changes for the same.

3.4  Col. Wasudeo suggested the formation of a group / trust called the Sadachar Manch of people who are against corruption and are identified by a badge. He also gave the example of the “gulabi gang”, a group of approx. 150 women in UP who would get together and confront those govt. officials who were corrupt, and force them to take action / deliver results. He expressed that people are fearful and there is a natural resistance for them to come forward and complain to the Police or ACB, as they fear they will be harassed in the process.

3.5  Prof. Mukherjee said that he could have a workshop at SIES for students to raise awareness. He also had a thought paper about how the right values / ethics / sanskar need to be inculcated within each family. 500 students could make a presentation to 500 housing societies, thus spreading a simple message (with contact details) of how the community can tackle corruption.

3.6  Mr. Nazareth suggested that the list of convicted officials be displayed on the ACB website as this would give confidence to people, who would see examples of how to tackle corruption. He also offered to do a critical analysis of the website.

3.7  Ms. Harsha Vyas said that she would like to hold an awareness programme for students in association with Bhavan’s college, Andheri.

3.8  Mr. Kumar Vyas said that he would like to get together a group of like- minded people in an area (e.g. Borivali) who are committed to tackle corruption.

3.9  Canta said that ACB should help and publicly acknowledge those individuals who are fighting corruption and helping others to do so. It was suggested that such individuals join M-PAC and they can then be collectively empowered.

3.10              In response to a query if suo moto action could be taken by ACB, it was  explained that the ACB takes basically 3 types of cases:

i)                    Trap cases

This requires courage by the complainant, as his identity cannot be a secret, either during or after the investigation.

ii)                  Disproportionate Assets (D.P.A.) of a Public Servant

Here the identity of the complainant is kept secret; he can give the information to the ACB which would do the necessary enquiries. Regarding D.P.A. of a public servant it was  explained that the Civil Service Conduct  Rules specify that on the day of joining service, the officer:

                                                             i.        declares his immovable assets

                                                           ii.        thereafter, the officer has to submit every year (every 5 years 

    for Maharashtra) a list of immovable assets

It was suggested that this information be displayed publicly on websites, so that citizens are able to determine whether an officer has D.P.A. or not.

Further, RTI could be used to determine whether officers are filing details of their assets as required.

iii)                Criminal Misconduct / Misuse of Public Office

This is the most difficult type of case, and in most cases, the matter is referred to the concerned department for investigation, as the police are often unable to assess the technical details of the case. (e.g. tender awards based on technical grounds instead of lowest commercial bid, etc.)

All the complaints, by and large, have to fit into the 3 categories  and those that do not are forwarded to the concerned government departments.

3.11              It was informed that Karmayog had received several emails regarding corruption, where people were reluctant to write to the ACB, and that a mechanism needs to be evolved to respond to such letters. The complaints are both of a generic nature (where ACB would need to study the case, and lay a trap) and of a specific nature, where action can be taken. It was also suggested that some of these complaints could be displayed publicly (generic examples or specific examples after withholding names) so that people can see examples of similar situations faced by others.

3.12              It was suggested that positive, inspiring stories of those who have resisted corruption need to be publicly displayed to inspire others, so that such isolated cases of honesty soon become common place. People are not willing to spend their time usually, and hence look for short-cuts that leads to bribes.

3.13              Col. Wasudeo listed 10 steps to tackle corruption: (all these cannot be taken up under M-PAC)

i)                    Formation of a Sadachar Manch

ii)                   5 members to sit outside the offices of corrupt officials with placards, etc

iii)                 Take action against those who give a bribe

iv)                 Opinion polls to be conducted to identify and recognise the 20 most honest officials

v)                  Schools / colleges to be involved to spread the message

vi)                 Theatre and films be used to spread the message, including certificates of recognition to those who do

vii)               Posters, jingles, slogans to spread the message

viii)              Hoardings with messages

ix)                 Silent street marches

x)                  Gulabi gang

3.14              It was agreed that the content / matter for the presentation by college students (SIES) as well as to school students  (Bhavans) would be drafted and then vetted by the group.  It was agreed that greater contact between the ACB and the public needs to happen, and this can be initiated by having talks at the Rotary and Lions clubs, resident associations meetings.

3.15              It was discussed that because the ACB has only one office in Mumbai, people from the suburbs don’t come and make complaints. In order to reach out to people, it was suggested that ACB have a mobile van that would move from suburb to suburb as per a fixed schedule, and thus reach out to people. Should the response / demand from people be very high, the govt. could then consider setting up offices in the suburbs also.

3.16              It was also suggested that events like the Mumbai Marathon could be used to spread the message of community involvement against corruption.

The meeting was concluded with vote of thanks to all and with an understanding that  second meeting would be convened in the near future.