46 per cent conviction in corruption cases: Naveen

Claiming that its Special Court Act has been yielding positive results, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said conviction rate in the corruption cases has reached a record 46 per cent this year.
"During the past 5 years, 503 public servants have been convicted by Vigilance Courts and 137 public servants have been dismissed from service on grounds of corruption, which is a major step towards cleansing public life," Patnaik said while addressing a function marking observation of vigilance week here.
He said this year for the first time that the conviction rate in different vigilance cases have reached 46 per cent, which is a record.

Stating that the state government had established as many as 15 Special Vigilance Courts in the state for expeditious trial of corruption related cases, Chief Minister said, "The role of responsive, well informed, and vigilant citizens in fighting the menace of corruption is paramount, and this week gives us an occasion to raise the awareness among people."
Corruption in high places affects badly the morale of subordinate public servants and has larger impact in the society, Patnaik said, adding that the state government had always laid much emphasis on maintenance of the highest standard of integrity and probity among senior public servants, including those holding high political offices.

"Odisha is the first state in the country to enact the Special Courts Act towards achieving probity. The endeavour of the government had received nation-wide recognition as the state governments of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have enacted legislations on the line of the Odisha Special Courts Act," he pointed out.

Patnaik said two Special Courts have been established at Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. "So far, 176 cases of corruption had been transferred to these Special Courts for expeditious trial and 20 accused persons holding high public offices have been convicted," said the Chief Minister.
As the state government has initiated several e-governance projects in order to promote greater transparency in government services and convenience to the people, Patnaik said: "It is a matter of great satisfaction that such initiatives have yielded satisfactory results in improvement of the quality of living conditions of the common people."

While lauding the achievements of the special courts, director of vigilance K B Singh said: "We have attached properties in about 100 cases under the provision of the special court act.