The Odisha lokayukta Abhijan, which is spearheading a movement for a strong lokayukta in the State, on Sunday demanded withdrawal of the proposal to amend the Central lokpal Bill -2013, and instead sought amendment of the ‘toothless’ Odisha lokayukta Bill-2014.The Abhijan in a Press conference here said the Central Government had on December 18, 2014 presented a bill in the lok Sabha titled ‘lokpal and lokayuktas and other related law Amendement Bill-2014’. In the Bill it is stated that if there is traditionally no opposition party, the single-majority party’s leader would be given the status of the leader of Opposition.
‘The original law needs not be amended in order to effect his minor change mentioned in the lokpal Amendment Bill. A small explanation could have been added to the rules to ensure its implementation,” abhijan members said. They said the re-amendment in the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, which states CBI disputes would be decided by the Attorney General of India, is dangerous. It is well known that the Attorney General is appointed by the Central Government and the CBI Director can decide if a case is to be lodged or not lodged against any public servant, the Abhijan said.
Stating that the Odisha Government in February 2014 managed to pass the Odisha lokayukta Bill 2014 in the State Assembly, they said that there is no effort to reorganise the Vigilance Directorate, the premier anti-corruption agency of the. Neither there is any Government funding for the Vigilance Department to probe cases referred to it by the lokayukta nor any steps taken to protect the Investigative Officer (IO), they pointed out.
If the Vigilance is not granted autonomy or given any freedom, due to the Odisha lokayukta Bill huge amount of money would be spent from the State exchequer, and some more white elephants would be reared. Without autonomy, no cases against the politicians or the bureaucrats can be investigated impartially leave alone punishing the guilty, the abhijan members said. Among others senior journalist Rabi Das, activists Prafulla Samantray and Pradip Pradhan were present.