Mani questions proposed Lokayukta Bill
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, December 20 2011:
Human Rights activist Advocate Khaidem Mani has questioned the substantive provisions of the proposed Lokayukta Bill 2011 .
Speaking to the reporters today evening, he asserted that the initiative taken up by the Government for introducing the Bill to prevent corruption is a remarkable step.
He maintained that an in-depth analysis on the effectiveness of the Bill to suppress issue of corruption is required besides simply studying it.
The Bill should cover from the lowest strata to the highest echelon of the executive as well as of the legislature.
He said that the implementation procedures of the Bill are different with that of other States in terms of taking approval from the cabinet authority.
Citing an example, he maintained that seeking approval from a competent authority of Legislative Assembly is required while conducting a case against the Chief Minister of the State.
The competent authority of council of Ministers and Government Departments is the Chief Minister and for MLAs, it is the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
Like no confidence motion, providing approval by the Assembly to investigate cases related with the Chief Minister is not possible, he added.
Unlike the Bill of the State, the Advocate maintained that, for Kanataka, the Governor act as competent authority to investigate on CM.
In Uttarakhand such investigation was approved by the full bench of the Bill which comprised of seven members.
In view of that, he shared that the Bill would be more effective if the State follows one of the system of the above States.
He also suggested the ruling Government as competent authority of the Government employees.
Regarding membership, the advocate further insisted to increase the membership upto five as the present proposed has only two excluding the Chairperson.
He mentioned that the Governor has to appoint the chairperson and members when Chief Minister should attend as the chairman of the selection board, and Speaker of the State Assembly and the opposition leader as members.
Mani further expressed on the need for having a Judge from the High Court in the selection board as the function of the Bill is based on judicial matters.
He also stated corruption as burning issue of the country and Manipur as one of the most corrupted State in India.