Honest officials need not fear 3Cs, says Vigilance Commissioner

A new Zonal Office of Indian Bank was inaugurated at Tirupathi by Dr TM Bhasin, Vigilance Commissioner, CVC in the presence of Mahesh Kumar Jain, MD&CEO, Indian Bank and KS Srinivasa Raju, Joint Executive Officer, Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam.

During his interaction with the media on the occasion, Dr Bhasin made it clear that honest officials need not fear three Cs, i.e., Central Vigilance Commission, (CVC), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG).

To a question whether the 3Cs are hampering the lending activity of Public Sector Banks, he said, “While CAG is not auditing the Books of Accounts nor looking into lending and recovery management of PSBs, CBI investigates the offences committed under Prevention of Corruption Act or offences with which Public Servants may be charged under CPC. As regards CVC, it exercises superintendence over the investigations of CBI. CVC always focuses on ensuring punishment for malafide actions with criminal intent and protection of all bonafide, rule based and policy driven directions of officials.”

The Vigilance Commissioner cautioned Banks against the role of middlemen and intermediaries and advised bankers to have augmented intelligence and do due diligence of Credit proposals. He added that bankers should have good understanding of business of borrowers, do thorough appraisal of proposals.

Dr Bhasin advised that Bank officials should make prudent use of the alerts through various technology driven tools, MIS and warning signals that are available in the CBS, to thwart frauds. It was noted by CVC that in some instances, purported oral instructions by senior officials are found to be the culprit and he made it clear that Bank officials should learn to say ‘No’ when something is not doable and when they don’t understand an area of activity proposed to be financed.

Speaking on the occasion, Mahesh Kumar Jain stated that the move to open Zonal Office at Tirupathi is aimed at enhancing operational convenience. “Indian Bank is intrinsically sound with Capital adequacy well above the required level,” he said and added that the Bank is consistently performing well, posting Net Profit and the level of Gross NPA and Net NPA are well under control.