Page 17 - English Tehelka Issue 7 - April 15, 2018

column

How serious governments

are about checking graft?

While the Centre and the states do not seem to be eager to have anti-corruption
The Way ombudsman, the apex court has asked 12 states to explain the delay in Lokayukta
appointment and Anna Hazare sat on indefinite hunger strike to press for Lokpal
ForWard

Abdul WAsey he Supreme Court recently 2014 and came into force from January photo: pushkar vyas
asked the chief secretaries 16, 2014 but the executive has not estab-
of 12 states — Jammu and lished a Lokpal yet. • Graft March 23, he also pointed out that regular staff. According to the report, that several proposed amendments
Kashmir, Manipur, Megha- To understand why Lokayukta’s ap- check Anna disciplinary action was taken against the pendency of cases has gone up to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act,
T laya, Mizoram, Nagaland, pointments are delayed or they are not Hazare had 407 public servants as a result of ac- to 1,358,. 2013, are under the Parliament’s
Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, allowed to function independently, it is sat on a tion from the Lokayukta Secretariat The difficulties these ombudsman consideration.
Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi and important to know its role and author- similar hun- during 2017-18. face are not limited administrative A few state governments are
West Bengal — to specify why they have ity. This anti-corruption ombudsman ger strike However, imparting the duties implementation. Many times, their moving towards it, but a bit slowly.
not appointed a Lokayukta. A bench of organisation, once appointed, cannot be in 2011 to of the Lokayukta is not easy as it lives are in danger. The recent attack Mizoram Law minister Lalsawta
Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R Banum- dismissed nor transferred by the state demand for involves bringing influential indi- on Karnataka’s Lokayukta Justice told the Assembly on March 16 that
athi on March 23 also asked the chief government, and can only be removed Lokpal viduals to book. “Even after 70 years P Vishwanath Shetty, who was a search committee formed for the
secretary of Odisha to apprise the court by passing an impeachment motion of Independence, people believe that stabbed multiple times by a visitor at establishment of the Lokayukta
about the status of the Lokayukta in the by the state assembly. The Lokayukta, corruption is a mode of administra- his office, is the latest example. The had identified the chairperson and
state, adding that the apex court has no along with the Income Tax Department tion. No work can be done without assailant was apprehended by the members and details of their profile
information whether it has an anti- and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), influence and money. There are security staff as soon as he came out were sent to the selection com-
corruption ombudsman or not. mainly helps people publicise corrup- hardly 10-20 per cent good officers. of Justice Shetty’s chambers with a mittee. Interestingly, the Mizoram
The move coincided with the launch tion among politicians and government But they also suffer a lot for raising knife in hand. Tejraj Sharma was re- Lokayukta Act was legislated by the
of Anna Hazare’s second indefinite officials. Many actions of the Lokayukta their voice,” said Justice Subhash B portedly upset that his complaint to Assembly in 2014 but its establish-
hunger strike against the Centre at New have resulted in criminal or other con- Adi, who retired as Upa Lokayukta of the anti-corruption ombudsman did ment was apparently delayed as the
Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan — the same sequences for those charged. Karnataka. “In Lokayukta, only cleri- not bring him relief. Thus, Lokayuk- 14th Finance Commission did not
place where he had started his anti- In Madhya Pradesh, for example, cal staff are independent. But the tas face threats not only from alleged allocate funds for the purpose.
corruption movement against the UPA as many as thirty-four IAS officers are police wing and the technical wing, high-profile culprits but also from Appointing a Lokpal or a Lok-
government seven years ago. However, facing Lokayukta probe for irregulari- whose role is greater in bringing cul- dissatisfied victims. ayukta is not enough. Most of the
things have changed a lot since then. ties committed by them during their prits behind bars, are not independ- On the political front, many state states where Lokayuktas exist, these
Compared to 2011, when the India postings at various government depart- ent. The ACB is not independent as it governments avoid appointing ombudsman organisations either
Lokayuktas face Against Corruption movement featured ments. Many of these probes have been is under the government. Then how Lokayuktas for the obvious reason don’t have enough teeth to act inde-
the who’s who of social activism, politics
of coming under their scanner and
pendently or lack adequate budget,
underway for the past six to eight years.
is it free from government interven-
threat to their and other related fields, the anti-cor- Separately, about 11 IAS officers are fac- tion? There cannot be reasonable go to any extent to make excuses. infrastructure and workforce to
investigation. If they don’t probe any
take swift action. The apex court’s
ing probe by Economic Offense Wing
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Triv-
ruption crusader is much lonely on the
lives not only stage this time. The two men who were (EOW) of state police, Congress MLA cases, that doesn’t mean there is no endra Singh Rawat, for example, interference in the issue shall hope-
from the alleged seen with him were former Karnataka and former minister Ramniwas Rawat corruption.” was recently quoted as saying that fully speed up the process of setting
Lokayukta Santosh Hegde and former
recently told the State Assembly.
a Lokayukta law “is redundant” in
Most recently, Haryana Lok-
up the anti-corruption ombudsman
high-profile culprits Haryana Lokayukta Pritam Pal. Rajasthan Lokayukta Sajjan Singh ayukta’s office had complained the state as the BJP government organisations across the country.
The apex court’s direction had come
but also from the in the wake of Advocate and Delhi BJP Kothari, who has been granted exten- about non-cooperative attitude of was walking the talk on its anti- The recently-ended indefinite fast
graft policy. “Where is the need for
sion of three years in office, last month
by anti-corruption crusader Anna
panchayati raj, urban bodies and
dissatisfied victims leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay’s plea, revealed that there were 885 complaints town and country planning depart- enacting a Lokayukta Bill when we Hazare to press for setting up of
of corruption. The which alleged that many state govern- against the Revenue Department, ments when it comes to compliance have been effectively pursuing our Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas
in the states, besides implementa-
anti-graft policy?” Rawat had said.
followed by 860 against the Urban
of reports or directions issued by it
ments are «deliberately weakening» the
recent Karnataka Lokayukta by not providing adequate Development and Housing Department, from time to time. In his 186-page At the national level, the Narendra tion of the Swaminathan Commis-
Modi government has so far refused
infrastructure, sufficient budget and
sion report, may go a long way in
report submitted to the Haryana
814 against the Police Department and
attack is just workforce. According to the PIL, the 755 against the Rural Development governor, Lokayukta Justice NK to appoint a Lokpal, saying that the implementation of the 2013 Act.
one example Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, re- Department. In his 32nd annual report Aggarwal (Retd) had highlighted the grounds that the present Lok Sabha
ceived Presidential assent on January 1, submitted to Governor Kalyan Singh on plight of his office in the absence of lacks a leader of the Opposition and letters@tehelka.com
Tehelka / 15 april 2018 16 www.Tehelka.com Tehelka / 15 april 2018 17 www.Tehelka.com
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