the portal of the country's anti-graft watchdog Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has not been functioning for about four months.

In a severe setback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fight against corruption in public places and his mission to promote Digital India, the portal of the country's anti-graft watchdog Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has not been functioning for about four months now.

Sources told India Today that the hard disk of CVC's portal crashed on November 28 and all data stored online till that data has been lost. The problem has been compounded as the data was not backed up.

The portal was maintained by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). To make matters worse, CVC's contract with TCS expired in December. There is no annual maintenance contract either between CVC and TCS.

The sources said after the grave tragedy, the Centre's web services organisation, National Informatics Centre (NIC), took over the maintenance of the CVC's portal this year. NIC has also been trying to retrieve the old data but without much success.

All efforts to talk to senior officials of CVC such as vigilance commissioners Rajiv and TM Bhasin, secretary Nilam Sawhney, additional secretary Salim Haque and director Jyoti Trivedi were in vain.

Though new complaints can now be made with CVC and their details would be available, the particulars of almost all the previous cases have been permanently erased.

ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION IN NTC

One of those cases pertain to alleged massive corruption in National Textile Corporation (NTC) under the Union Ministry of Textiles, now headed by Smriti Irani.

Mumbai-based whistleblower HR Kosia had filed an RTI application with CVC in 2013 demanding action taken report in an alleged corruption case. He had accused NTC chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) PC Vaish of selling a godown for a song to a private party in 2013.

According to Kosia's complaint, Vaish, then NTC's director, finance, had sold off Mumbai-based Poddar Process Malharvadi Kalbadevi worth crores to private builders Om Vastu Shanti for mere Rs 75 lakh. The transaction was allegedly done without due tendering process or without approval from Textiles Ministry and NTC's Board of Directors.

The deal was done despite the fact that NTC had won a case against lease holder (Poddar Process) in 2013 when Vaish was finance director.

Kosia, who was deputy manager (security and vigilance) with NTC, had to pay a heavy price for bringing to light this corruption and several other cases of irregularities in the Corporation. He was dismissed from service in July, 2016.

Kosia's grievance is that the Textiles Ministry neither filed any chargesheet against him nor lodged an FIR nor had a 'panchnama' done.

SORRY STATE OF AFFAIRS IN CVC

Finally, Kosia filed an RTI in the Commission. After several communications, CVC director and Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) Jyoti Trivedi replied on December 22, 2016, saying that "due to technical problem in the working of complaint portal of the Commission, it is not possible to provide the action taken on your complaint at this stage".

She added that the appellate authority in the matter was CVC additional secretary Praveen Sinha.

Kosia petitioned Sinha, saying that the CPIO's response was not legally valid as per RTI Act 2005. Sinha replied to Kosia on January 24, and admitted that the "corruption case lodged with CVC required action taken reports copy".

In his decision, Sinha said, "I have gone through the relevant records and find that at the time of giving a reply to the appellant (Kosia), the complaint portal was not functioning and this position was intimated to the appellant by the CPIO.

"I direct the CPIO concerned (Jyoti Trivedi) to confirm the position regarding complaints mentioned by the appellant in his RTI application and provide an appropriate reply to him within 15 days of the receipt of these orders," he said.

Sinha further said, "The issues raised by the appellant have thus been addressed appropriately. However, if the appellant is not satisfied with the above decision, he can make an appeal with the Central Information Commission (CIC). The appeal is accordingly disposed (of)."

Following the appellate authority's decision, Jyoti Trivedi sent a second reply to Kosia. In her letter dated February 9, she said, "TCS system of the Commission is still not working. It is not possible to provide the action taken on your complaints at this stage."

Kosia has now made a second appeal to CIC. He also apprehends some major conspiracy behind the whole episode. "The portal crashing on November 28, CVC's contract with TCS ending just next month, no AMC either between the two and there is no back up of data - all these cannot be coincidences. There is more to it than meets the eye. The PM should have an inquiry ordered into it," he said.

The fate of Kosia's application is uncertain and so does that of thousands of such cases. While the whistleblowers struggle, action against several alleged corrupt government officials may not be taken ever, dealing a severe blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's crusade against corruption.

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