``The official can send the report on investigations handled by the department straight to my office and it will be fed into the computer installed here,'' Vittal told The Indian Express today.

``Since it will be under my scrutiny, I can always check its progress and pull up people if there are unnecessary delays.'' This order will also safeguard the official ``against disciplinary action as he has strictly obeyed the directive of the CVC,'' Vittal said.

He said he had focused on organisations which have a culture of corruption: Customs, Excise and some PSUs. ``I don't mean any insult to these organisations but they are perceived to be corrupt.'' According to him, when young peoplejoin these organisations, they also get influenced by officers who are corrupt. ``Now no one can say that corruption only produces more corrupt people.''

One reason why it's difficult to initiate action against corrupt officials, says Vittal, is the inordinate delay in conducting probes. Quite often, by the time the probe comes to an end, the accused official has already retired. Delays are most often caused by innumerable adjournments, so the CVC has ordered that there will be no more than two adjournments in each case.

He has also suggested that enquiries be conducted by retired, honest officers so that they can take the burden off serving officals who treat enquiries as a secondary job. ``Why not use retired officials,'' asks Vittal, ``after all they are useless. Why not pay them Rs 5,000-10,000 per case and let them handle it?''

The CVC believes the source of all corruption is in the sensitive area of issuing tenders. ``It is the Gangotri of all corruption,'' he says, and ``the root cause ispost-tender negotiations. Everyone knows there is a cushion there and that's where bargaining begins which leads to largescale corruption. So I am going to ban it.''

Yet another area for corruption, says Vittal, is the discretionary powers of the government official, whether it is in promotions, favours and out-of-turn allotments. The Commissioner has asked all departments to publish the list of decisions taken which will be displayed on notice boards, like names of parties which were issued tenders, promotions etc. ``This will ensure transparency and will effect psychological pressure on officials.''

Vittal also plans to visit every government department in the coming months within a year's time. He says he's confident of being able to point out sensitive areas which may be known sources of corruption and also find new ones.

Cutting Through The Red Tape