Newly-appointed Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) Pradeep Kumar today sought from the government more resources and manpower to strengthen the commission to deal with corruption "ruthlessly and firmly".
"The [CVC] Act only provides that officers of certain level and above will be handled by the CVC. But there are more cases of corruption and the solution does not lie in not dealing with the cases. What it means is to strengthen the CVC with more resources and people at its command so that it can tackle the corruption wherever it exists," Kumar said.
He said that corruption in government departments had to be dealt "ruthlessly and firmly" as it was necessary for good governance.
"Corruption is a scorch. It adversely impacts all of us. It distorts our decision making, leads to distorted priorities and it is against good governance. So corruption has to be dealt with ruthlessly and firmly," he said.
A former defence secretary, 62-year-old Kumar took over as CVC on July 14 following ouster of his predecessor PJ Thomas from the office after the Supreme Court quashed his appointment citing a pending charge sheet in a corruption case against him.
Kumar, however, refused to speak on Thomas' removal.