CHENNAI: In the last three years, more than 18,500 railway officials across the country have been booked in corruption cases internally, as per data tabled in the
Parliament last week. While
Northern Railway topped the charts with 6,121 officials under the scanner during 2015 to 2017, the Chennai-headquartered
Southern Railway emerged second with 1,955 cases.
The internal mechanism of decoys, preventive checks and investigating complaints, irregularities to book corrupt officials under the Railway Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1968, D&AR action in railway terminology, has gone tech-friendly, with the authorities also taking into account videos of Travelling Ticket Examiners taking money for giving berths.
Sources say many corrupt officials are 'trapped' during the last months of their service and their pension benefits stalled if a D&AR is initiated. "The rules are such that even if a top official takes a decision to benefit the public, he can be tried for violating procedures. It's a complicated scenario," said a top Southern Railway official.
Sources said there have been cases where investigations were launched against officials after contractors remitted money into railway account to fund their farewell parties. While investigating complaints against top officials, who come under the Group 'A' category, the
Central Vigilance Commission (
CVC) is also consulted.
The CVC's 2017 report said around 11,200 complaints were received against railway employees in 2016, the highest in the list of complaints against officials of central government agencies.
