On December 10, the Supreme Court upheld the Constitutionality of the Odisha Special Courts Act-2006 passed to tackle corruption. A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Anil R Dave said the Act is flawless in seizure of disproportionate assets. The judges agreed with the Government that disproportionate asset acquired by any public official is as horrific as economic terrorism and the worst kind of social disaster. The high and mighty among the corrupt use the ill-gotten money to buy off witnesses, wipe out evidence, influence investigating officials and, above all, employ exceptionally skilled lawyers with big money. The bug lawyers first subdue the State prosecutors with such gifts as are difficult to turn down. No wonder, investigating officers weaken the prosecution base so badly that the judiciary has nothing left to beat down the accused with and convict the crooks. The number of accused is very impressively high and fairly assorted in class and creed, which is nice for publicity, but people tend to forget and the high and mighty manage to escape conviction after inordinately delayed trials, while brazenly enjoying the loot, posing as saints.
The Act was specifically promulgated for speedy trial of cases against politicians and high-rank Government officials. Two Special Courts were set up in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in 2008. The Act made it possible for investigating agencies to attach and confiscate0 properties of the accused just to render them incapable of using the loot money to fight cases effectively. The courts were free to make daily hearings for speedy delivery of order.
Odisha is the first State to make such a laudable people-friendly law. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have now copied the law with gratitude.
Fifty-two petitions were filed by the accused at the Orissa High Court challenging the Act. The HC rejected the petitions, saying the law was constitutionally correct. The petitioners moved the Supreme Court, which delivered its landmark judgement just days ago.
Under the law, “assets”, both movable and immovable, can be confiscated under judicial guidance even before conviction and even be sold. In case court orders acquittal, the proven good souls shall be given back value with interest. The whole idea is to create the best kind of deterrent only. In Odisha, the law applies only to the high-salary category officers while in Bihar all classes are included.
Opponents of the law, particularly rogue Government employees, imagined the Act violated the fundamental rights of the accused. They screamed that Articles 14, 21 and 247 of the Constitution were being violated. High-priced defence lawyers had to do something to convince them that the best fight is being put up.
Incidentally, in Kandhamal, a senior official, Jalandhar Pradhan, was accused of corruption and his house was converted into a hostel for tribal girls in 2011. Similarly, a retired IAS officer, Sanjib Kumar Rai’s palatial house in Bhubaneswar was confiscated to house a free homoeopathic dispensary for the poor. A retired DGP of Bihar, Narayan Mishra, lost his fancy bungalow in Patna to accommodate a school for children from deprived communities. About two dozen such instances have been reported from Bihar and Odisha. The law is bound to show great impact provided the investigating officials do not waver from principles of ethics. All the same, corruption has not diminished so far. Most of the convicted rogues are roaming the streets on bail. But for sure, the would-be corrupt official in the ‘mighty’ category will find it difficult to plan kills as joyously as before.
Undoubtedly, the public integrity quotient of Naveen Patnaik and Nitish Kumar has gone up considerably with such corruption-curbing steps. But in a country crippled by corruption and judicial perversions, the confiscation laws of Odisha and Bihar can become a template for other States to replicate. What is critically important is that the State agencies must provoke the masses to keep a keen watch over the lifestyles of seemingly corrupt people through popular information dissemination exercises.
People have easy access to the Vigilance offices within the districts so as to enable them to lodge complaints against corrupt public servants. With people’s tips, the Vigilance Department of Odisha, between 2008 and 2013, was able to register 402 cases and launch prosecution against 705 public servants. There are 15 Special Vigilance Courts in the State for expeditious trial of cases. Believably, 424 public servants have been convicted by the Vigilance Courts and 145 have been dismissed from services. Two Courts of Authorised Officer, set up at Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, to try confiscation proceedings have initiated more than one hundred confiscation proceedings.
Since its inception, the Vigilance has registered 98 corruption cases against 47 IAS officers and 11 cases against seven IPS officers. In the past five years, Vigilance and special Vigilance courts ordered confiscation of assets of two retired IAS officers Ramesh Chandra Behera and Sanjeeb Kumar Ray and retired IPS officer Baidyanath Jena. The Government has taken possession of their properties. A total 137 out of 503 convicted employees have been dismissed. But it is also a fact that the number of high officials is abysmally low, as always. Only the low-level conviction is big. That’s a depressing truth. Barring a very few, most of the corrupt biggies are still scot-free. The arrogant rogues flaunting gloss and glitter made from stolen or robbed public money are unseen in prisons and police remand in conspicuous numbers.
There are many scoundrels among officials who behave as masters rather than servants despite being known as daylight robbers. They are not nabbed for disproportionate assets as they show investments in stocks, land and down to even dairy in backyard and most incredibly wives earning astronomically from boutiques and beauty parlours. A very upright, ruthlessly honest yet supremely capable IAS officer of Odisha told openly that public servants are not even expected to indulge in promoting any other profit activity than the salaried job for which they are sold to the State. Such money fetching enterprises attract their fulltime mind and attention which is no doubt corruption. Numerous officials with multiple palaces, immeasurable jewellery and countless luxury vehicles get away with the proof of earning from known sources of income which are prima facie illegal and unethical. This class is very cunning and crafty. The anti-corruption agencies must swoop on them first. Then only would the number of convictions become significantly big.
Incidentally, the Vigilance department was highly credible during Gopal Nanda and Anup Patnaik, both DGs. Specifically, during Patnaik’s tenure, the Special Courts Act was fiercely defended at the courts of law including the apex one for which Anupbabu had personally worked day in and day out to ensure victory. The rogues caught in the Vigilance net contested the State on the plea of their Right to Equality before law, Rights to life and Personal liberty were violated if pre-conviction confiscation was executed. Further, they had also challenged the legislature’s right to make special laws. The Supreme Court proved the worth and value of the judiciary by upholding the Special Courts Act pioneered by Odisha.
But when Prakash Mishra was implicated, the Vigilance department had degenerated a great deal. The numbers of accusations, confiscations and conviction had gone down drastically. Public participation had touched an all time low and the department was looked down as unethical and unclean by analysts.
The people of Odisha are happy that a good law has come in place, but they are not sure if it is used adequately to net many a robber roaming everywhere without fear. The Indians feel proud that their judiciary is mostly unblemished, unbiased and fair particularly when it comes to ruling public interest cases.
Jai Hind!
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)