New Delhi, September 13: Whatever the causes of corruption, the “alarming fact is that there is considerable tolerance of the same in our society,” Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan said on Saturday.
It was a “reprehensible practice” that demands for bribes were made even for the delivery of essential services, like issuance of ration cards and approval of electricity and water connections.
He was addressing a seminar on “Fighting Crimes Related to Corruption,” organised here jointly by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science.
“Families who are already disadvantaged on account of poverty and illiteracy are further exploited and denied amenities. Independent studies have shown that the incidence of corruption is the highest when it comes to interactions with the local police, allocation of housing and in the maintenance of land records and registrations and in courts also as it involves so many people and is not a one-man system,” the CJI said.
In the long-run, the costs of corruption were not confined to the money that changed hands under the table. The real costs were difficult to measure as they involved loss of opportunities for business, investment and diversion of manpower. In some cases, corruption posed a threat to the national security and law and order.
“We are all aware of how smuggled arms and explosives were used for the bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993, as well as the financing of terrorist operations through hawala dealings. All in all, the pervasive culture of graft provokes pessimism about the quality of governance,” he said.
Minister of State for Personnel and Public Grievances Prithviraj Chavan said the government already approved the setting up of 71 special executive courts for CBI cases. He appealed to the judiciary to find innovative solutions to reduce the huge pendency, and work towards making the criminal justice system efficient, fast and fair.
–Agencies