by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Exclusive report
Lokpal sitting pretty as Govt. yet to frame rules
Ombudsman was created six months ago, function from Hotel Ashok
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Oct 15
Even six months after the 9-member Lokpal institution came into being in March, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) has not framed rules and procedures to govern country's anti-corruption watchdog.
It transpires that the Chairman of the Lokpal Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, has been communicating with the DoPT for the past several months to expedite framing of rules. He is impressing upon the government to frame rules so that the body could start functioning effectively. The DoPT has to prepare a format under which complaints can be filed against the corrupt government servants including ministers by complainants. The government wants that the complainant has to to lodge a complaint against the persons occupying high office in a proper format rather than on a plain sheet of paper. But there is no format as yet.
The Lokpal was created in a historic decision by the Modi government to probe into the corruption charges against the Ministers including the Prime Minister.
Insiders say that in the absence of rules and procedures, the Lokpal is unable to handle complaints. It is also not clear whether the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) which is dealing with the corruption by the government servants minus political leaders will be brought under the ambit of the Lokpal or not.
At present, the office of Lokpal works from 'The Ashok' hotel in Chanakyapuri and search is on for an alternative building.
Justice Ghose is the Chairman while eight other members include four former chief justices of different high courts, justices Dilip B Bhosale, Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Abhilasha Kumari and Ajay Kumar Tripathi and four ex-government servants. They include former IPS officer Archana Ramasundaram, ex-Maharashtra chief secretary Dinesh Kumar Jain, former IRS officer Mahender Singh and Gujarat cadre ex-IAS officer Indrajeet Prasad Gautam.
So far, the Lokpal has received over 600 complaints and it has disposed most of them. But it is handicapped in the absence of rules & procedures how to proceed. Various complaints are reported to be pending, say sources.
When contacted, a senior officer in the DoPT said, “it is engaging our attention on a priority basis. There are procedural issues and being sorted out.”
ends
