The Vigilance Department is the arm of the government entrusted with the task of eradicating corruption and upholding the purity of administration. It originated as a wing of Political (General) Department in 1946, it was renamed as Anti Corruption Department. In course of time, it became a Cabinet (Vigilance) Department, under the Cabinet Co-ordination Department, Finally in Department of Vigilance come into existence as an independent Department. Its Office is located at Soochna Bhawan, Near New Secretariat.
It has a broad spectrum of deriving effective modalities to keep watch over the corrupt practices of Government servants. Apart from legal measures, the department is making effort to sensitize people for raising their voice against corruption. The department has realized that without the co-operation of the society, legal measures, alone are not enough. The department is seriously concerned about speedy trail of the accused and speedy disposal of complaint petitions, so that, the people may feel that Vigilance Department functions as the eyes and ears of the Government and it shall not allow misuse of govt. fund meant for development and for the welfare of the people. It is also examining the suitability of the prevailing laws related to Vigilance.
Hon'ble Chief Minister, Sri Nitish Kumar holds charge of the department. The department itself is headed by a Secretary or Principal Secretary. It has three investigation agencies, namely Vigilance Investigation Bureau, Special Vigilance Unit and Technical Examiner Cell, In order to speed up trapping of corrupt Govt. servants and to collect intelligence about disproportionate assets belonging to corrupt Govt. servants the Government of Bihar set up Special Vigilance Unit by recruiting on contract basis a team of retired CBI Officials who had high reputation for integrity during their service tenure etc.