Lokayukta Act: Let's hope for the best
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: December 24, 2011 -

It is indeed a welcoming sign for the Manipur State Legislative Assembly to pass the Lokayukta Bill to check corruption in the state by the high ranking officials and politicians.

In Manipur where corruption is rampant, a very strong Lokayukta Bill is needed indeed.

Right from the grassroots level and upto the top level, corruption has become more like a fashion.

Movement of files along the official channels even depend on cash in many cases.

It has become an open secret in the state that officers and bureaucrats charge a large amount of money for even a job on contract basis.

They will sharply deny if charged with allegations of corruption.

But it is true that no one can get a job without expending a fortune even if it is for a rifleman in the state force or a job on adhoc or contract basis.

Whenever a transformer develops some technical fault in a locality, it has become the bounden duty for the people in that locality to contribute money and repair that faulty transformer in order to get that few hours of electricity which is not enough to lit a family in the night.

While the high ranking officials and bureaucrats deny such allegations, ask any common people in the state and they will definitely accept the truth that corruption in the state is rampant.

In such a situation, it is very important to enact an act which will not only check corrupt activities of the officers and bureaucrats, but also to serve as a turning point in Manipur's history in the fight against corruption.

Once the Lokayukta committee succeeds in punishing two or three bureaucrats or officers under the Act on charge of corruption, it will surely act as a deterrent to other corrupt persons and will make them think twice before accepting bribes or charging money for executing any official works or appointing someone in the government offices.

However, the Lokayukta Bill passed by the State Legislative Assembly of Manipur somehow seems to lack effectiveness as a measure to check corruption in the state.

According to the Act, the Lokayukta needs the permission of the State Legislative Assembly in order to investigate charges of corruption against the Chief Minister of the state which automatically became a major drawback in the investigation process of the committee since the Chief Minister is the leader of the majority party in the House.

It will take quite an effort and time for Lokayukta to convince the members of the party to stand against their leader.

And to investigate charges of corruption against any Minister, the approval of the Chief Minister is necessary.

It is acceptable to some level but we cannot take the CM as the best competent authority to grant the permission to investigate over the Minister.

On the other hand, taking permission of the Speaker of the House to investigate against the members of the Legislative Assembly is acceptable to all to a large extent but yet it is not the best competent authority for an effective Lokayukta.

Above all, keeping the Speaker of the House out of the purview of the act is not the wisest thing even if it is a good step for proper functioning of the House.

As compared to Lokayukta Acts of other state, the Act passed in the state seems to lack some of its effectiveness as a measure to check corruption in the state even though it will put some restraints on corrupted persons.

Only time will tell whether or not the newly passed Lokayukta Bill will become an effective tool against rampant corruption in the state.

But let's hope for the best to relieve the victims of rampant corruption in the state with the enactment of Lokayukta Bill.