Government Chief Whip Pravat Kumar Tripathy on Wednesday announced that the legislation of the Odisha lokayukta Bill would be done in the ensuing short Vote-on-Account Session of the State Assembly, likely to commence in the first week of February as the Opposition has demanded an all-party consultation for unanimity in the provisions.
As promised by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to frame the law within one month’s time, the Odisha lokayukta Bill would be passed in the House during the brief Session, Tripathy informed.
With a view to fight corruption and bring transparency in public life, the State Government in principle had decided to bring the lokayukta Bill for which the Cabinet had given its nod, he said, adding that accordingly the provisions of the law would be discussed in details and passed in the Assembly.
Tripathy said that the Bill is now under the scrutiny in the law department and would be formally vetted by the Cabinet for introducing in the Assembly. He assured that the Bill would have strong teeth to ensure absolute transparency and probity in public life with effective steps to tackle corruption in high places.
However, leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh demanded that before the introduction of the Bill in the Assembly, the CM should call an all-party meeting to discuss and finalise the provisions to make it stronger. Since the Chief Minister would come under the ambit of the new legislation, the State investigative agency, the Vigilance department, should remain under the ambit of the new law to make it more fair and transparent, he said.
As per the provisions, the post of the lokayukta is at par with the Chief Justice of the Odisha High Court. The lokayukta would have eight members, four each from judicial and general field. The appointment of the lokayukta and members would be done by a committee comprising the Chief Minister, the leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of the Odisha High Court, sources said.