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Former Goa Lokayukta bats for stronger Act, more powers to tackle graft
Justice Misra presided over an eventful, but ultimately inefficacious tenure as the Goa government refused to act upon and rejected most of his recommendations or chose not to act upon them.
Goa’s Lokayukta Act is weak when compared to those in Karnataka and Kerala and needs to be strengthened in order to be effective, justice Prafulla Kumar Misra, who was effectively Goa’s first Lokayukta (ombudsman) has said.
Justice Misra, former Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, who recently completed his tenure as Goa’s Lokayukta and returned to his home in Odisha on Monday, presided over an eventful, but ultimately inefficacious tenure as the government refused to act upon and rejected most (some are still pending for consideration) of his recommendations or chose not to act upon recommendations
“To make the Goa Lokayukta Act more meaningful and effective some amendments are required. [Granting] power to the Lokayukta to prosecute as in Karnataka, Kerala, provisions for recovery of cost; power to punish for contempt are some of the amendments required to make it more effective,” Justice Misra told HT.
The Goa Lokayukta Act empowers the Lokayukta to, upon receiving a complaint, to hold a preliminary inquiry to ascertain “whether there exists reasonable ground for conducting investigation the complaint” or whether the complaint is frivolous or vexatious or is not made in good faith; or there are no sufficient grounds for proceeding further; or other remedies are available to the complainant and in the circumstances of the case it would be more appropriate for the complainant to avail of such remedies.
If satisfied that there are adequate grounds to proceed with a detailed inquiry, the Lokayukta will then proceed to conduct a hearing, examine evidence and communicate his findings and recommendations to the Government.
The government has to then, within three months report back to the Lokayukta on the action taken or proposed to be taken, on the basis of the report.
If satisfied, the Lokayukta shall close the case under information to the complainant, but where he is not satisfied and if he considers that the case so deserves, he may make a special report upon the case to the Governor.
The Lokayukta can also formally declare a public functionary (elected representative or bureaucrat) as unfit to hold office but the onus is on the Government to either accept or reject such declaration after giving the public functionary an opportunity of being heard.
The Lokayukta, however, rejected the notion that his directions were not binding on the government.
“If you read the sections carefully, you will find that the report regarding ‘grievance’ and order to initiate prosecution are binding, as the words used is ‘shall’ and not ‘may’. Such mandatory word ‘shall’ is being conveniently ignored by all concerned,” justice Misra said
“I can’t comment as to whether the Act was deliberately made weak. In the original Act sent to the President, there was a Provision for punishment for contempt, but it seems the Central Government raised objections at that time. Compared to the Karnataka and Kerala Act, the Goa Act is weak, but it is stronger compared to some other Acts in some States,” he said.
Justice Misra took over as the Goa Lokayukta in April 2016 succeeding Goa’s first Lokayukta Justice (Retd) Sudarshan Reddy, who had resigned within seven months of his appointment on October 17, 2013.
The post was vacant for more than two years.
During his tenure Misra indicted former Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and recommended disciplinary action against two top officials of the Mines Department for hastily clearing 88 mining lease renewals including 31 in a single day and recommended a CBI probe in the matter. The findings were rejected by the Government.
He also found irregularities in beach cleaning tenders, recommended a probe against a then minister for having allegedly amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and blamed the government for crippling the institution with inadequate investigating officers to carry out its functions.
The Goa Lokayukta Act was passed in 2012 by the Manohar Parrikar-led government that came to power with an absolute majority on the plank of ‘zero tolerance to corruption’. In the run up to the election, Parrikar had promised that he would bring to fruition a strong Lokayukta Act.
The Bill was passed after a heated debate in which the opposition benches said provisions of the Bill were designed to discourage complainants while at the same time had inadequate penal provisions to those found guilty of corruption.
A Lokayukta to succeed justice Misra is yet to be appointed. The state government has been being directed to do so within three months by the Bombay High Court at Goa.
