Civil society members under the banner of the Odisha lokayukta Abhijan (OlA) on Friday decided to stage an indefinite dharna from February 3 demanding a public debate on the official draft of the Odisha lokayukta Bill.
The members said the Bill would be tabled and passed in the forthcoming Assembly session. It is not fair to pass the Bill in the Assembly without a public debate because the people are yet in the dark about the contents of the draft Bill prepared by the Government, they added.
The members demanded that the Bill be in the format of the lokpal Act in the Centre. The State Vigilance Department should come under the lokayukta’s
control and Director of the department should be appointed by a three-member committee including the lokayukta, leader of Opposition and a High Court judge and headed by the Chief Minister, they added.
Abhijan members former Minister Panchanan Kanungo, journalist Rabi Das, activist Pradeep Pradhan, lalit Mishra and Debesh Das demanded that the State Government bring all companies and organisations getting fund or land from the Government under the ambit of the lokayukta.
Notably, the Abhijan members had on Monday submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urging him to circulate the draft Odisha lokayukta Bill for a public debate before getting it enacted in the Assembly.