LOKAYUKTA

A PRESENTATION BY

AAKASH SHARMA,
B.A.LL.B. (VITH SEM.)
ROLL NO.-27

INSTITUTE OF LAW

KURUKSHETRA UNIVERSITY, KURUKSHETRA.

Lokpal literally meaning protector Some

clarifications
Lokayukta Ombudsman at the State of people.
Ombudsman at the Union level Lokayukta vs.
Vigilance officer Upa-lokayukta Deputy
Lokayukta level Former looks into citizen
grievances against public officials from outside
the system and the latter does the same from
within the system

Judicial remedy Existing grievance redressal

machinery Administrative tribunals like Income
Tax Appellate Tribunal, Labour Tribunal
Department of Administrative Reforms and
Public Parliamentary procedure Extra
bureaucratic channels like panchayats
Grievances. Consumer Fora

4. Need for Lokayukta Interim Report of the

Administrative A Democratic government is a Reforms,
1962 gave the following reasons: government of the people,
by the people and for the people, it has an obligation to
satisfy the citizen about its functioning and to offer them
The adequate means for the ventilation and redress of their
grievances. redressal of citizens grievances is basic to the
functioning of democratic governments, and will
strengthen the hands of the government in administering
the laws of the land without fear and favour, affection or ill
will and enable it to go up in public faith and confidence
without which progress would not be The existing
institutions of judicial review and Parliamentarypossible.
control are inadequate in view of the ever expanding range
of governmental There prevails a public feeling functions
most of which are discretionary. against prevalence of
corruption, widespread inefficiency and administrations
unresponsiveness to popular needs.

Early 60s, rampant corruption in the govt. sets

Evolution the mood for establishing an
Ombudsman to look into citizen grievances Office
of Lokayukta was Administrative Reforms
Commission, 1966 recommendations Lokpal
Actset up on the pattern of the Ombudsman in
the Scandinavian countries remains stalled but
several states passed Lokayukta Acts over the
years : Maharashtra (1972), Bihar (1974), Uttar
Pradesh (1977), Madhya Pradesh (1981), Andhra
Pradesh (1983), Himachal Pradesh (1983),
Karnataka (1984), Assam (1986), Gujarat (1988),
Delhi (1995), Punjab (1996), Kerala (1998),
Chhattisgarh (2002), Lokayukta is
notUttaranchal (2002) and West Bengal (2003)
and Haryana (2004) uniform across all states

6. Generally Term : 3-5 yearsTerms and

conditions of office a retired Supreme Court or
High Court judge is appointed in consultation
with the state governor, ruling and opposition
leaders of the state legislative A Lokayukta does
not hold a separate office for profit and is
notassembly connected with any political party.
Also debarred from being a member of
Lokayuktas office has been providedParliament
or State Legislature. Governors areequivalence
with the status of a Judge of the High Court.
authorised to remove the Lokayuktas but only for
misbehaviour or incapacity. Procedures for
removal are not uniform.

7. No uniformity in terms of
coveringJurisdiction Permission required to
investigate cases concerning officials
aboveauthorities Included under its ambit
matters of pension, gratuity, PF, anya certain
rank claims related to retirement, removal or
termination of service

8. Excluded from jurisdiction :o Matters

concerning State security; actions taken in
respect of appointments, pay and other matters
of employmento Complaints which have or had
any remedy before any Tribunal or Court of Lawo
Any action in which a public inquiry as ordered
under Public Servants (Inquiries) Act, 1950o
Complaint made beyond the period of limitation
(generally 3-5 years) stipulated by the Actso Any
matter concerning any person if he has any bias
in respect of such matter or person

9. Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka

HaveLokayukta(s) in action separate
investigating agencies headed by the DGP (states
without these have to Karnataka, Kerala,
Gujarathire private investigators to carry
investigations) Search warrant can be issued in
cases where the summoned person would not
Delhi Chief Minister, Ministersproduce the
article relevant to any inquiry and MLAs are
under its ambit but civil servants/bureaucrats,
judiciary, police Kerala Lokayukta has localand
the Delhi Development Authority are excluded
panchayats under its ambit of investigation

10. Organisation Honble Lokayukta Personal

Secretary PROAdministrative Wing Police Wing
Technical Wing Registrar Addl. Director General
Chief Engineer Deputy Registrar Inspector
General Superintending Engg. Asst. Registrar

11. Garner says that he is anLokayukta A

mere PR tool? Officer of Parliament, having as his
primary function the duty of acting as an agent for
Parliament, for the purpose of safeguarding
citizens against Can conduct raids but cannot
legally punish anyone!(Garner,1981:92) No strict
time limitRecommendations are not binding on
the state government. for conducting
investigations and enforcing punish Has to seek
permissionment. Lokpal Billto conduct
investigation involving officers above a certain
rank stalled several times since its introduction in
1968 in Parliament. Lack of political will?

12. The major advantage of a Lokayukta isthat

he or she examines complaints fromoutside the
offending state institution,thus avoiding the
conflicts of interestinherent in selfpolicing.However, this system lies heavily on
theselection of an appropriate individual for
theoffice, and on the cooperation of at least
someeffective official from within the apparatus
of thestate.

13. Former Karnataka Lokayukta,

JusticeMajor success stories Santosh Hegde has
brought several officers and ministers including
forcing the then CM, B S Yediyurrappa to resign
over his involvement in illegal mining. Report on
illegal mining indicted Karnataka ministers as
well including Reddy A role model for other
Lokayuktas, he has offered to re-draft
thebrothers. Bihar Lokayukta Act

14. Delhi Lokayukta and chairman of All India

Lokayukta committee, Justice Manmohan Sarin
has been championing the cause of Recently
indicted CM Sheila Dikshit forstrengthening the
office of Lokayukta "misrepresenting" facts while
announcing that 60,000 low-cost flats were ready
under the Rajiv Rattan Awas scheme, in the runup to the 2008 Assembly polls.

15. Gujarat : Gov. Kamla Beniwal

appointsControversies Lokayukta using
discretionary powers. Modi and Co. react
vehemently

16. Karnataka : Case of Conflict of Interest for

present Lokayukta, Justice Shivaraj V. Patil
_

17. Calls for adopting the uniformLatest

developments "Model Lokayukta Bill" as
formulated by the Implementation Committee
constituted The Jan Lokpal Bill drafted by the
All India Lokayukta Conference, 2004 India
Against Corruption Campaign supporters says
Lokayuktas should be appointed by the Centre

18. Lokayukta (Ombudsman in India) : A SocioLegalReferences Study, Shukla K.S, Singh S.S
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article60
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http://lokayukta.delhigovt.nic.in/hope-commonman.asp
http://www.nios.ac.in/srsec317newE/317EL36.pdf
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7078/is_2_13/
ai_n42059
http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/times-ofindia-the/mi