by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
special report
Finally, Lokpal gets a building, outside Lutyen's Delhi
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Oct. 21
Finally, the Lokpal has a got its own building to function. More than seven months after the 9-member anti-corruption watchdog came into being, it was functioning from the sprawling 5-star Hotel Ashok. It’s a different matter that the Lokpal was not paying any rent to the ITDC owned Hotel Ashok and bearing the loss.
The Lokpal continues to struggle with the government for the rules to be framed for the past seven months. The department of personnel and training (DoPT) has not framed the rules so that Lokpal is able to function and look into the complaints of corruption against the Hugh and mighty people.
But the Lokpal is now to move out of Delhi's five star hotel 'The Ashok' to Vasant Kunj in the building of the International Center for alternative Dispute Resolution. The building was identified by the PMO in the city for a great building hunt. The International Center’s building is a sprawling area outside the Lutyen’s zone in Vasant Kunj. Now the Lokpal will acquire it. It is at Vasant Kunj Institutional Area, Phase-II, Mahipalpur. The government had said recently that it is in the process of searching a permanent office for Lokpal in response to an RTI query. But it did not go further as to when it will identify and where.
It said no payment has so far been made towards rental charges for the Lokpal office at 'The Ashok' hotel. the government has taken over the building of Arbitration building in vasant kunj.
Meanwhile, the government appointed Senior IAS officer Dilip Kumar as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the office of Lokpal. It is perhaps the first official appointment of a bureaucrat in Lokpal. Kumar, a 1995-batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre, was working as the joint secretary of the NHRC when his appointment was announced.
The Centre is yet to notify a form for filing complaints with Lokpal.
