Centre, states get notice over lokpal

The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Centre and all states on Wednesday, seeking their reply on a public interest writ petition filed by advocate and social activist Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay for the appointment of an independent lokpal at the Centre and equally effective lokayukta in all the states in the spirit of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Acts 2013, which is necessary to curb corruption, the greatest menace of democracy.

A Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Prafulla C. Pant issued the notice on the PIL which said that corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on society. The bench said corruption undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to violations of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of life and allows organised crime, terrorism, and other threats to human security to flourish. This evil phenomenon is found in all the states and its effects are most destructive. Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development, undermining government’s ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice, and discouraging foreign aid and investment.

He said corruption is key element in economic under-performance and major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development. India has been ranked 76th in Corru-ption Perception Index, 2015 of Transparency International.

Now we have a new instrument, the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013 to address this scourge. Its implementation in letter and spirit will send a clear message that the executive is determined to prevent and control corruption. It will warn the corrupt that betrayal of the public trust will no longer be tolerated and it will reaffirm the importance of core values such as honesty, respect for the rule of law, accountability and transparency in promoting development and making the India a better place to live.

The PIL said not only it is necessary to curb the corruption, the greatest menace to our democracy and development, but also essential to achieve the great golden goals as set out in Preamble of the Constitution of India. In 2013 Parliament enacted the Lokpal and Lokayukta Acts but they are not being implemented effectively. The law calls for preventive measures and the criminalisation of the most prevalent forms of corruption in public and private sector. It will be very difficult for corrupts to hide their illicit gains. This is very important issue for country like us where corrupts have plundered the national wealth.

The petitioner pointed out that State governments which had set up Lokayukta are deliberately weakening the Lokayukta by not providing adequate budget, infrastructure and work force. Governments are not appointing Superintendents of Police in every district, while the prosecution wing of the Lokayukta, burdened with hundreds of cases, has one or two public prosecutor. Moreover, the reports of the Lokayukta are not binding on the government. Several other States have made sure that the law setting up the Lokayukta itself was weak and did not cover legislators. Hence the present petition for a suitable direction to the Centre and States to set up Lokpal and Lokayuktas.