Meant to monitor foreign trips,Vigilance finds own officials ‘guilty’

Two months after the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) instructed all chief vigilance officers (CVOs) to maintain a log of foreign trips of all government employees,comes its admission that the Chief Vigilance Officers themselves were making unauthorised trips abroad.

The CVC has admitted this in its circular issued to secretaries of ministries/govt departments,CMDs of public sector banks (PSBs) and PSUs and CVOs of states and has asked them to curtail foreign visits which are not for official purpose.

The circular has come at a time when the Centre has directed its ministers,MPs and others in the government to follow austerity measures. Subsequently,states and various government organisations and police departments have also taken steps to curtail frequent tours of their officials.