Congress Chief Whip in State Assembly Prasad Harichandan on Saturday disputed the State Government’s claim that Odisha is the first State to have passed the lokayukta Bill in the Assembly.
He said the ruling BJD is misleading the people on lokayukta Bill through long advertisements, the cost of which is borne out from the Government exchequer.
Harichandan alleged that the very claim of the State Government that it enacted the anti-graft lokayukta law for the first time in the country on Friday is baseless as the Uttarakhand Assembly had already passed the law on January 21 last.
He said Parliament Affairs Minister Kalpataru Das misled the people saying that Odisha was the first State to have passed the Bill in the country. He contradicted that Uttarakhand rather deserves credit to have done it.
Further, he said unless the State Vigilance Directorate and the Crime Branch come under the ambit of lokayukta, corruption can not be fully checked. Besides, he said the present lokayukta was weak as it can not take suo motto cognisance of certain issues on the basis of media reports like the Supreme Court and High Court.