Lokayukta

Appointment

A Lokayukta is appointed by the Governor of the State, through nomination by its Chief Minister (in consensus with Chief justice of the State High Court, Leaders of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, and Legislative Council, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and Chairman of the Legislative Council). Once appointed, the Lokayukta cannot be dismissed nor transferred by the government, and can only be removed by passing an impeachment motion by the state assembly. Any person who is a judge or a retired Chief Justice or a retired judge of the High Court is eligible to be appointed as a Lokayukta. In most states, the term of a Lokayukta is five years or until they attain 65 years of age, whichever is earlier.

History

In October 1966, the Administrative Reforms Commission, led by Morarji Desai, submitted an interim report to the Prime Minister. It recommended the establishment of a Lokayukta in each state to address citizens' grievances and improve public administration. At the time, existing mechanisms, such as courts and departmental authorities were considered inadequate for tackling corruption and misconduct by public officials.

Based on the recommendation, the Government of India introduced a bill in 1968 to create the institutions of the Lokayukta in the states and Lokpal at the national level, modeled after the Ombudsman Institution. Although the bill passed in the Lok Sabha, it did not pass in the Rajya Sabha. Despite this, the proposal inspired several states to enact their own Lokayukta laws, although the provisions varied widely.

Maharashtra became the first state to formally establish the institution with the Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act of 1971. This was soon followed by similar legislation in several other states (Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu) and the union territory of Delhi.

In the state of Haryana, activist Naresh Kadyan filed a public interest litigation and later a contempt of court petition due to the government's failure to appoint a Lokayukta.

However, the powers and responsibilities of the Lokayuktas still differed from state to state, prompting efforts to standardize them. To address the lack of uniformity, the 1st All India Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Conference was held in Shimla in 1986, where it was agreed that there should be consistency across states. This call for uniformity was reinforced at a subsequent conference in Bhopal in October 2010, and there were plans to achieve this through central legislation.

In Indian states

The Arunachal Pradesh Assembly passed a Lokayukta bill on 4 March 2014 and the Mizoram Assembly in March 2019. In Tamil Nadu, the Lokayukta Act was enacted on 13 July 2018 and established on 13 November 2018. There are no Lokayuktas in Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry.

Constitutional Amendment for Effectiveness

An amendment to the Constitution has been proposed to implement the Lokayukta uniformly across Indian states. The proposed changes will make the institution of Lokayukta uniform across the country as a three-member body, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or high court chief justice and comprising the state vigilance commissioner and a jurist or an eminent administrator as other members.

Jurisdiction

The Lokayukta is established to investigate complaints against public functionaries, including politicians and government officials. Each state defines the jurisdiction and powers of its Lokayukta through a separate state act.

Generally, the Lokayuktas jurisdiction covers:

• Ministers, including the Chief Minister (in many states)
• Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), Members of Legislative Councils (MLCs)
• State government officials, (including IAS, IPS, and other state service officers)
• Employees of public sector undertakings, local bodies, and autonomous institutions funded or controlled by the state government.

The exact powers and processes of Lokayuktas vary because each state passes its own Lokayukta Act, defining the scope of authority, jurisdiction, and procedural rules specific to that state.

Reforms

In November 2012, after the conclusion of the 11th All India Lokayukta Conference, as many as 16 Lokayuktas sent several recommendations to the Government of India. The recommendations were:

• Make the Lokayukta the nodal agency for receiving all corruption complaints.
• Accord the Lokayukta jurisdiction over State-level probe agencies.
• Bring bureaucrats under the ambit of the Lokayuktas.
• Accord powers of search and seizure and the power to initiate contempt proceedings.
• Provide the Lokayukta administrative and financial autonomy.
• Bring Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) funded by the government under the Lokayuktas jurisdiction.

Impact

In 2021, a report of Retd. Justice Santosh Hegde, the then incumbent Lokayukta of Karnataka, resulted in the unseating of the Chief Minister of Karnataka B. S. Yeddyurappa from his position.

References

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