Rail relaxes vigilance inquiry norms for staff
26 Nov 2017 10:33 PM IST
New Delhi: Errors in judgement should be taken into account before initiating a vigilance inquiry into allegations of misconduct against its staffers, a railways directive has said.
In a set of instructions issued on November 16, the railways has said these relaxations in the vigilance norms are necessary for improving the performance of its staff.
"The field officials have to be empowered and confidence has to be instilled in them, so that they take decisions in the best interest of their work, within the broad framework of rules. "During interactions with the officials working in the field, it has emerged that the performance of the organisation sometimes gets compromised because of the over-emphasis on procedures and undue fear of vigilance," the instructions said.
According to the railways' Vigilance Manual 2017, the chief vigilance officer (CVO) of the ministry, along with the disciplinary authority--the general manager (GM) in this case--are the arbitrators in a vigilance matter. According to the new policy, in case of a vigilance inquiry by the CVO, the opinion of the head of the department (HoD) concerned has to be taken into account before a case is registered against an official.
"The charge of misconduct against an executive must be distinguished from a purely erroneous decision, whether on law, policy or fact," the instructions stated.
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