ACC mulling public hearing at upazila HQs on graft allegations

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has undertaken a plan to organise public hearings at the upazila headquarters (HQs) on allegations of corruption against the government officials employed at the lowest tier of civil administration.
The move is designed to hold the public servants accountable to people and reduce the scope of corruption in government offices, officials said.
The anti-graft body took the decision following a recent instruction from the Cabinet Division to improve the quality of service rendered by the state-owned entities by appropriately responding to the allegations made by the service receivers.
When contacted, ACC Commissioner Nasiruddin Ahmed said at the initial stage they will go for holding such hearing at land offices at upazila level in five districts on a trial basis.
The ACC will soon write to the Cabinet seeking permission for launching the programme initially in five districts -- Gopalganj, Madaripur, Mymensingh, Comilla and Rangpur, the commissioner said, adding that the programme would be expanded to other areas later.
Locals can place their allegations against the officials of a certain department during the hearing and the ACC will give the accused officials chance to defend themselves, he said. The ACC would recommend departmental action if the official concerned fail to defend themselves.
 "We'll also sign an agreement with the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) in a few days as joint initiative is required for the prevention of corruption at public offices," he said.
Seeking anonymity, another official of the Commission involved with the initiative said all the officials and employees of the service providing departments will be present during the hearing.
"Both written and verbal complaints will be accepted for the hearing. Online allegations will also be taken account," he said.
He said under the pilot project, the offices that are more prone to graft-taking would get priority over others in public hearing.
 "Allegations are there that people seeking services from the land offices usually fall victim to corrupt practices and harassment.  The public hearing will help us know the source of such irregularities," he added.
According to a recent TIB study on Corruption in Service Sectors, nearly 59 per cent of the households who had taken the services of the land offices were victims of corruption and harassment.
Households became victims of corruption or harassment in receiving services on the following issues: mutation (34.6 per cent), document registration (30.1 per cent), searching and collection of documents (29.5 per cent), paying land development tax (18.3 per cent), land survey (6.4 per cent), getting lease and settlement in khas land (1.5 per cent) and others (0.9 per cent), the survey mentioned.
The officials said the World Bank has already provided the ACC with the concept papers for preparing the modality for the public hearing programme.

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