Persons responsible for fake, frivolous and motivated complaints against public servants will liable for criminal prosecution under section 182 of IPC, u/s 195 (1)(a) of CrPC, 1973.
JAMMU: Reiterating its resolve to eradicate corruption by encouraging citizens to flag errant public servants, the government has issued guidelines to discourage anonymous complaints and prosecute those who filled frivolous complaints with a motive to harass public servants.
This timely move by Jammu and Kashmir General Administration Depatment is seen as a major relief by the government employees in J&K UT owing to burgeoning rise in fake complaints against government functionaries in the past few years.
Vide circular No 34-JK (GAD) of 2022 dated 03/01/2022 issued by Secretary General Administration Department, Dr. Piyush Singla, the government while stressing the need for redressal of complaints in a laid down mechanism to tackle the growing culture of fake, anonymous and pseudonymous complaints asserts “Complaints can be lodged against public servants with appropriate authority by addressing a written communication either directly or through electronic mode or on portal available. The authority after verifying contents of complaints may take appropriate action under law against the public servants in a time bound manner”.
“It is, however, reiterated that anonymous or pseudonymous complaints or complaints containing vague, frivolous, non specific allegations should not be taken cognizance. ” reads the GAD circular.
To discourage the culture of anonymous and pseudonymous complaints, as a standard procedure the authorities as a first step need to verify whether the complaints are filled by citizens with complete particular viz name, address and contact number. In case, it found out to be anonymous or pseudonymous, the same is to be filled without any further action, further reads the circular.