Toothless lokayukta? Thank you Mr. Narendra Modi for fooling and cheating us... As expected, the Gujarat Lokayukta Commission Bill 2013 had a smooth sail in the state assembly. The BJP enjoys a brute majority and the opposition Congress after being ejected from the House the previous day had decided to boycott the proceedings. It was an expected victory for the ruling party. Just that democratic spirit was vanquished. But then, to expect the ruling party to heed to the governor’s objections and live up to the ideals of the founding father of our nation was tantamount to hoping against hope. After all, the government is all determined to be the jury on its own misdeeds. The new bill eliminates the role of the chief justice of the high court in selection of the ombudsman and proposes a selection panel that will have three representatives of the ruling party, including the chief minister as its chairman. It defies logic that the person likely to be investigated shall appoint the investigating authority. Justice R A Mehta had raised this point while refusing to take charge as the lokayukta after the state government suffered a loss of face in a protracted battle to scuttle his appointment. Also, the bill gives the government the power to accept or reject the lokayukta’s findings. This defeats the purpose of an independent probe. When the primacy of the opinion of the chief justice of the high court, as laid down by the Supreme Court, is violated the sanctity of the appointment process will be suspect. When the ruling party, by virtue of a majority in the selection committee, gets its own person in the office, the lokayukta will be anything but a watchdog of the government. All this makes it clear that the bill is aimed at killing the institution of lokayukta. The governor who has returned the bill once for review is constitutionally bound to give her assent the second time around, even if she disagrees with the provisions. Given the way the feisty governor took on the state government to appoint the lokayukta last time, it will not be surprising if she escalates the bill to the president. This would mean further delay in the state getting a lokayukta. The loser will be the people. For more than a decade they have had no ombudsman to complain to against corruption in the government. People’s wait is only getting longer. And until a lokayukta comes, if at all, it’s merry-making for the corrupt public functionaries, including the ruling class.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 08:34:49 +0000
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