HC notice on PlL seeking lokpal’s appointment in Punjab

The post has been lying vacant for the past six months, thereby rendering the statutory anti-corruption mechanism under the Punjab Lokpal Act, 1996, redundant and defeating the very object of ensuring transparency, accountability and probity in public administration, the PIL filed by one Vishal Mehta, a lawyer, said.

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday sought response from the Punjab government on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the Punjab government to initiate the process for the appointment of lokpal. The post has been lying vacant for the past six months, thereby rendering the statutory anti-corruption mechanism under the Punjab Lokpal Act, 1996, redundant and defeating the very object of ensuring transparency, accountability and probity in public administration, the PIL filed by one Vishal Mehta, a lawyer, said.

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday sought response from the Punjab government on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the Punjab government to initiate the process for the appointment of lokpal. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/ Representational image)

The plea was taken up by the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry and has sought response from the government by May 7.

The petitioner underlined that the institution is a crucial statutory and constitutional safeguard designed to provide an independent forum for redressal of complaints against corruption and maladministration at the highest levels of governance. This inaction assumes greater significance in light of the fact that the state government had even abolished the state vigilance commission on the express assurance that the institution of lokpal would be strengthened and made the primary instrument to combat corruption, it said.

The PIL stressed that the ruling party in Punjab came into existence on the foundational demand for establishment of a strong and independent lokpal to combat corruption in public life. “It, therefore, is all the more significant and rather paradoxical that the very political party whose origin and rise to power is intrinsically linked with the demand for a strong lokpal, has while being in power in the state of Punjab, failed to ensure the continued functioning of the said institution,” it said.