The Prevention of Corruption Act was passed in the year 1947 to curb corruption in India. There are also various codes of conduct related to government employees. The Santhanam Committee was also constituted to review the existing tools to counter corruption and vigilance commissions were also constituted at the Central and State levels. In addition, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the institutions of Lokpal and Lokayukta are also to prevent corruption. All these are described as follows.
1) The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947- In this Act, crimes related to corruption already existing in the Indian Penal Code were neither redefined nor any extension of this definition. Similarly, it adopted the definition of "public servant" given in the Indian Penal Code. Yet these laws created the definition of a new offense, criminal misconduct in the discharge of official duty for which the contract was extended for a minimum of one year to a maximum of 7 years.
2) Penal Law Amendment Act 1952 - With the coming of Penal Law Amendment Act 1952, there were some changes in the laws related to corruption. The punishment mentioned under Section 165 of the Indian Penal Code was reduced to three years instead of the existing two years.
3) Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 This Act received the President's permission on 9 September 1988.
4) Fraudulent bribery - There are two sides in letting any corruption take place. One bribe taker and the other bribe taker. The crime of bribery can be placed into two types of categories. A ranking person is forced to extort money from him, he has to pay for a minor service because if he does not agree to the demand of the public servants who pay the money, then he will have to lose much more than that amount of bribe. . Both these categories of corruption are also known by the use of force and fraudulent treaties respectively.
5) Sanction for prosecution - Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act provides that the court will be required to obtain prior approval of the competent authority before taking cognizance of the offenses defined under sections 7, 10, 11, 13 and 15 of the Act. The purpose of this provision is to protect honest public servants from harassment by malicious and painful complaints.
6) Liability to indemnify corrupt public servants- While on one hand they are entitled to punishment under Prevention of Corruption Act due to corrupt act done by public servants, on the other hand there is no civil liability for wrongdoers. Nor is there any provision for compensation to any person / organization against whom wrongdoing has taken place or who has suffered due to misconduct of public servant.
7) Forfeiture of illegal assets acquired by corrupt means.
4) Whistle blower or security of the person giving information of corruption or scam- The person giving information plays an essential role in providing information about corruption. If they are given protection, then sufficient information can be found about corruption and measures can be taken for that. Laws granting such protection exist in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The Whistle Blower Bill was passed on 9 May 2014 in India.
9) Corruption can also be reduced by conduct rules of government employees.
10) Central Vigilance Commission and State Vigilance Commission were also formed to curb corruption. Similarly, Central Bureau of Investigation is also the central agency for anti-corruption work.
11) Lok Pal and Lokayukt Institutions / Lokpal Bill have also been constituted to prevent corruption.
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