A watchdog that neither bites nor barks
Lok Ayukta Costs Tax-Payers Rs 1.28 Cr A Year But Has Addressed Only 4 Of 14,000 Complaints
Viju B
The state pays Rs 1.28 crore a year in salaries for 87 staffers in the Lok Ayukta office. Yet, though nearly 14,000 complaints were received by the office in 2005 and 2006, the Lok Ayukta initiated action in only a handful of cases. Furthermore, with no competent authority ever writing back to the Lok Ayukta about any proposed action, it is not clear if justice was actually meted out in any case.
This information was revealed after activist Shailesh Gandhi filed a Right to Information (RTI) query last year, seeking the number of complaints received by the Lok Ayukta office and details on the resulting action, if any.
The quasi-judicial Lok Ayukta’s office was set up in 1971 to look into allegations made by the public against high-ranking government officials and ministers. While the Lok Ayukta can pass directives, it cannot implement them. However, it can go to court if its orders are not acted upon.
According to the RTI reply, in 2005 and 2006 the Lok Ayukta in four grievance cases wrote to the competent authority recommending a remedy. In two other complaints, the Lok Ayukta had written to the public servant involved to get the latter’s side of the story. In the case of corruption complaints, no recommendations were made to the competent authority. Meanwhile, no competent authority ever wrote back to the Lok Ayukta about any proposed action, the RTI reply says.
Several senior bureaucrats and police officers have said that the Lok Ayukta has become a paper tiger whose recommendations are not taken seriously by the government.
Former IPS officer Y P Singh had registered a complaint with the Lok Ayukta against an “illegal’’ Government Resolution of July 1999, which permitted politicians and MLAs to sell their society flats constructed on government land. “The Lok Ayukta ruled that it is a policy matter and ever since senior ministers and bureaucrats have been selling these flats and making crores of rupees,’’ Singh alleged.
Another complainant is Amreliwala, a Marol resident, who registered five complaints with the Lok Ayukta with regard to encroachment in his area. “But my case was disposed of summarily,’’ he said. State officers pointed out that recommendations made by the Lok Ayukta are not binding on the government. “In the case involving illegal tree-felling carried out by senior officers some years ago, the Lok Ayukta had passed severe strictures, but the government took no action,’’ Singh said.
However, senior Lok Ayukta officials have defended the office’s poor performance. “On an average, the redressal rate is around 80%. A large number of cases get disposed of after being heard,’’ claimed upa-Lok Ayukta Suresh Kumar. He said the cases were disposed of in an “amicable’’ manner with the opposing parties being brought together.
As per Section 12(6) and Section 12(7) of the Lokayukta Act, an annual report has to be submitted by the Lok Ayukta to the governor and state legislature every year. “No report has been submitted for 2004, 2005 or 2006. The fact that even an annual report is not submitted nor demanded for by our state legislators is not very surprising, since the key figures of performance are very poor,’’ Gandhi said.
He added, “The RTI information shows that the Lok Ayukta office needs a major overhaul in terms of performance and accountability.’’
Besides Rs 1.28 crore in salaries each year, the Lok Ayukta office, opposite Mantralaya, also gets Rs 3 lakh for travelling expenses, Rs 6.3 lakh for office expenses, Rs 2 lakh for petrol, oil and lubricant, Rs 26,000 for hospitality and Rs 51,000 for computers.