President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday termed corruption as a “major stumbling block” in the country’s progress as he urged the anti-corruption watchdog — Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)— to lead the way in cleansing the system of it.
“Corruption remains a major stumbling block in the progress of our nation,” Mukherjee said as he inaugurated a seminar on the occasion of golden jubilee celebrations of CVC. Acknowledging that steps taken to corruption had made little success, President was of the view that corruption increased transaction costs, reduced efficiency of public services, distorted decision making processes and undermined the moral fibre of the society.
“Corruption has reinforced inequities and limited access to public services by the common man, especially the poor,” Mukherjee said in his opening remarks.
For his part, Union law Minister Kapil Sibal who also spoke on the occasion addressed the issue of corruption in judiciary and said that the process of accountability within the judiciary was “exceptionally weak”.
Referring to the higher judiciary comprising the Supreme Court and the 24 High Courts, he said, “Unless the CJI in his individual capacity grants sanction, there can be no process of investigation. And, therefore, you see very few instances of people being brought to book.” Due to this high latitude of discretion available to CJI, he preferred an institutional framework to be put in place to ensure accountability within judiciary.
Taking a dig at judiciary which of late passed judgments to make MPs accountable, Sibal said, “While there is a movement to do away with sanction even for officers beyond Joint Secretary within the single directive, when it comes to the judiciary, there is no directive, apart from there being a single directive.” He added, “No process of investigation can be launched unless there is prior sanction of the CJI. That also involves an element of human discretion.”
On the recently-enacted lokpal and lokayukta Act, he said there was a “great mismatch” in the Central and State laws. Once the States enact their lokayukta Act based on the Central Act, there will be uniformity in the framework, he said. The lokpal and lokayukta Act stipulates the States to frame a lokayukta Act within 365 days of the Central Act coming to force based on the Act passed by Parliament.