The Manohar lal Khattar Government in Haryana may have been claiming to have “zero tolerance” towards corruption, but the former Haryana lokayukta Justice Pritam Pal (retd) in his last submitted annual report has expressed concern on how the institution of lokayukta is not taken seriously in the State.
Whether it is the request for submission of action taken report on complaints sent to various Government departments or the request of filling up vacancies of the institution of lokayuka, these requests are not taken seriously by the State Government, said the former lokayukta Justice Pritam Pal (retd), in the annual report for the period 2015-16 tabled in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.
The non-seriousness of the state Government to deal with corruption can be gauged from the fact that it has failed to appoint its anti-corruption watchdog-the lokayukta- in past more than two months after the retirement of Justice Pritam Pal (retd), whose five-year term ended on January 18 this year.
Notably, the first BJP led State Government came to power in Haryana in the year 2014, on pledges of ushering in an era of change with good governance and graft-free system in the state.
The former Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Pal had hogged the limelight last year after he recommended registration of criminal cases against a former Minister, two Chief Parliamentary Secretaries and three MlAs in the previous Congress Government in an alleged case of graft besides taking up a case of alleged evasion of excise duty and sales tax to the tune of `10,000 crore in the State.
The former lokayukta, meanwhile, in the annual report 2015-16 has expressed concern over the non-compliance of lokayukta orders by officers of various departments against whom directions were made or replies sought by him.
Slamming the State Government’s approach towards dealing with the corruption cases, the former lokayukta said, “It has been observed that in spite of serious allegations and grievances of the complainants, the issues raised are taken in routine and very causal manner by the officers/officials.”
“As and when any complaint is forwarded to the head of the Government/ Department for enquiry or reply thereon giving the time of 45 days, the action thereon is not taken within the stipulated time. The concerned departments were reminded also by the official of lokayukta but reports are not received by our office within the stipulated period,” the report said.
The report has also pointed out that as and when any request was made for filling up the vacancies of this institution the same was not taken seriously and still many of them were lying vacant, and this hampered the smooth working of lokayukta.
Pushing the demand for more power to the lokayukya for the past five years during his tenure, the former Haryana lokayukta also proposed amendments in the Haryana lokayuta Act, 2002 to empower the organisation with the power of Contempt Of Court for disobeying the orders and to take suo motu cognizance of corruption allegations and grievances highlighted by the media.
In the annual report, he proposed amendments in the Act related to grant of power of Contempt of Court, Suo-Motu cognizance, protection of whistleblowers, introduction of five years limitation clause, overriding effect to lokayukta Act, destruction of old records, removal of anomaly in pay structure of lokayukta institution and providing adequate staff in the organisation.
Besides, the former lokayukta has proposed that some provisions/ mechanism be incorporated in the Haryana lokayukta Act so as to compensate the complainants, who spend their precious time and money in pursuing the complaints and at the same time provision for providing security to the genuine whistle blowers should also be made under the rules of the Act.
He also called for making the Haryana lokayukta Act, 2002 more effective and strong to deal with the menace of corruption and grievances of general public.