Issues related to the Appointment of Lokpal - 10mins Seminar Notes

Issues related to the Appointment of Lokpal - 10mins Seminar Notes

Lokpal & History 

A Lokpal is an anti-corruption authority or body of ombudsman [an official appointed to investigate individuals' complaints against a company or organization, especially a public authority] who represents the public interest in the Republic of India. (Lokpal – Enquires corruption charges at National level / Lokayukta – Enquires the same at State level).

• The current Chairperson of Lokpal is Pinaki Chandra Ghose since 23 March 2019.
• It consists of a Chairperson and eight members.

Lokpal concept is initially proposed in the early 1960s. In 1968 first Lokpal Bill was passed in 4th Lok Sabha but lapsed with the dissolution of Lok Sabha.

After 45 years of its introduction and after Ten failed attempts, the Lokpal Bill was finally enacted in India on 18 December 2013.

Lokpal and Lokayukta act passed in 2013 with Amendments in Parliament, following the “Jan Lokpal Movement” led by Anna Hazare in 2011. 

Features of the Lokpal Act

A. The Lokpal and Lokayukta’s Act, 2014 as passed by the Parliament contains 15 chapters and 63 Sections.

B.The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013 extends to the whole of India including state of Jammu and Kashmir. It shall apply to public servants in and outside India. This indicates that Act has extraterritorial operation.
C.The important features of Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013:

1. The Lokpal shall consist of nine members including the chairperson out of eight members out of which 50 % shall be judicial members and the rest 50% of the members shall be from amongst the persons belonging to ST, SC, OBC and Women.
2. The Selection Committee shall consist of the PM, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of India or his nominee and one Jurists nominated by the President of India for the purpose of appointment of chairperson and the other members.
3. All the government officials ranging from class D to Secretary and even the PM shall be under the control and domain of the Lokpal.
4. Special Court shall be setup to hear and decide the cases referred by the Lokpal.
5. A conviction for one year with fine of Rs. One Lakh has been provided for lodging false, frivolous and vexatious complaints. He shall bear the legal expenses and pay compensation to the public servants against whom the false complaint was lodged.
6. Complaint against the Lokpal official shall be investigated within one month and guilty officer/officials will be dismissed for two months. Losses to be covered from corrupt officials.
7. Central Vigilance Commission and Central Bureau of Investigation shall be accountable to the Lokpal. 

Limitations

1. The institution of Lokpal has loopholes and lacunae which need to be corrected.
2. Lokpal is not free from political influence as the appointing committee itself consist of members from political parties.
3. The 2013 act did not provide concrete immunity to the whistle blowers.
4. The biggest lacuna is the exclusion of judiciary from the ambit of the Lokpal.
5. The complaint against corruption cannot be registered after a period of Seven years from the date on which the offence mentioned in such complaint is alleged to have been committed.
6. The Lokpal is not given any Constitutional backing and there is no adequate provision for appeal against the Lokpal. 

Why the Lokpal Bill is not Implemented till date:

1. The difference of opinion among the representatives of the government and also the representatives of the Civil Society on few matters led into the two isolated drafts of the Lokpal Bill which created chaos and led to the delay of implementing the Bill.
2. After the bill was passed in Lok Sabha in 2011 it was put up for debate and approval in the Rajya Sabha. Discussions remained inconclusive and therefore Rajya Sabha decided to refer the Bill to the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha for analysis and report.
3. Lokpal had the jurisdiction to investigate Group ‘A’ officers. However, these officers at that time fell within the purview of Central Vigilance Commission, hereinafter referred to as CVC. Therefore, there would have been issue of dual jurisdiction over these officers [Likewise lot of issues occurred due to overlap of powers between Lokpal and the existing system].
4. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act is perhaps the only Act in the history of independent India, which has been so widely discussed, both inside and outside Parliament and has, thus generated so much awareness in the public mind about the need to have an effective institution of Lokpal to tackle corruption.
5. UPA Government tried to appoint the Lokpal before the 2014 General Elections but failed due to related controversies like resignation of Justice K.T. Thomas, Chairperson of Search Committee, and Shri Fali Nariman, Member of the Committee.
6. India witnessed sweeping win of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in 2014 General Elections. Even then the Lokpal could not be appointed because the post of the Leader of Opposition of Lok Sabha remained vacant.
7. But the Supreme Court on April 2018, clarified that the Lokpal appointment process need not to be stalled merely due to the absence of Leader of Opposition.
8. Also Setting up a Search committee needs some ground work since its members are drawn from different fields like the anti-corruption policy, Public administration, Law, Banking, and Insurance + half of its men need to be women, backward class, minority and SC/ST candidates. 
9. The Government says that a Search committee was already established in September 2018, however the Search committee devises its own procedure for shortlisting suitable names for the selection. 
10. Even after the Search committee was formed, it has been handicapped due to the lack of office space, manpower, infrastructure and a secretariat. 
11. Supreme court has asked the Government to provide the necessary infrastructure for the search committee to convey its meetings and function properly.

Presented By 

Vaishnavi Thirumalai

TNPSC Student
Magme School of Banking