Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill-Will Sonia Issue 'Fatwa' To Vote For Anna's Bill Now !!??!!

Team Anna members meet the Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C.Khanduri in Dehradun on Monday.

India’s northern hill state of Uttarakhand earlier this week became the first in the nation to establish a strong anti-graft watchdog similar to the Jan Lokpal, or people’s ombudsman, that is being pushed at the national level by Gandhian activist Anna Hazare and his team.

The anti-corruption law known as the “Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill” was passed in the state assembly Monday and includes in its purview the chief minister and other ministers, legislators, and all government officials. It also covers the lower judiciary in the state but exempts high court judges.

The small hill state that was once a part of Uttar Pradesh is governed by India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. Passage of the law may give the BJP some advantage against the ruling Congress party in New Delhi when Parliament convenes for the winter session later this month by allowing the BJP to claim it has been actively implementing Mr. Hazare’s proposals and is serious about introducing anti-corruption measures.

Mr. Hazare rocked India with a hunger strike in August designed to pressure the government into adopting his version of anti-graft legislation. The government has said it will take up the issue in the upcoming Parliamentary session.

Uttarakhand already had a Lokayukta but it carried little power. Prakash Pant, the state’s parliamentary minister, said in an interview that the changes will “tighten the weak ombudsman institution” in the state and “go a long way in the fight against corruption.”

With the passage of the new law, the Lokayukta would no more be a single-person institution but a panel with a chairman and five to seven other members — half of whom will have a legal background, he said.

A separate committee – comprising the chief minister, the leader of the opposition, and the chief justice of the Uttarakhan High Court –that now selects the state’s Lokayukta or People’s Commissioner will be expanded to include eminent citizens and will be responsible for choosing the new Lokayukta chairman and panel members.

The Lokayukta would also have the power to recommend punishment, removal or demotion of government officials after the completion of an investigation of no longer than 12 months.

The law envisages that “for any act of corruption, the punishment shall not be less than six months of rigorous imprisonment and may extend up to ten years. In the rarest of rare cases, the punishment may be extended up to life imprisonment.”

On Wednesday, Arvind Kejriwal, Mr. Hazare’s close aide, congratulated the Uttarakhand government at a press conference in New Delhi for introducing a “comprehensive law” and said the Congress party-led government at the center should use it as a “reference point.”

The law passed by the Uttarakhand assembly requires the federal government’s approval before it becomes effective in the state.Mr. Kejriwal said they were waiting to see if the center would “supersede” the bill by enacting a “weak law” at the national level.

The move was also welcomed by India’s law minister, Salman Khurshid.“It is good Uttarakhand has passed the Lokayukta bill. Every state should pass its own bill and the center should pass the Lokpal bill,” he said at a television press conference in New Delhi Wednesday.

The new Lokayukta bill, however, has been slammed by anti-corruption advocate Avdhash Kaushal, who heads a non-governmental organization called the Rural Litigation & Entitlement Kendra in the state’s capital of Dehra Dun.

He explained the law lays down special provisions for top bureaucrats, the chief minister and legislators. For instance, all Lokayukta members must give their consent for investigations into them but not to other government officers.“Such measures are discriminatory and unconstitutional,” he said.

Sanjay Kumar, fellow at the New Delhi-based Center for the Study of Developing Societies, said the BJP is “hoping to reap electoral dividends” by coming up with legislation mirroring Mr. Hazare’s version of the anti-graft watchdog ahead of state assembly elections early next year.

“It could have a ripple-effect on the edgy political spectrum, with pressure on others to follow suit,” Mr. Kumar said.

Team Anna: Jan Lokpal a poll plank in India's Assembly elections

Team Anna in Uttarakhand to suggest on Lokayutka Bill

Team Anna members arrived in Dehra Dun on Monday on the invitation of Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri to give their suggestions for a tough and effective Lokayukta Bill against corruption.

"We have come here at the invitation of Khanduri, who wanted us to provide him suggestions for enacting a tough and effective Lokayukta in the state against corruption," Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan, close aides of social activist Anna Hazare, said.

Soon after taking over as Uttarakhand Chief Minister on September 11, Khanduri had declared that his government would bring a fresh Lokayukta Bill where suggestions of Jan Lokpal Draft Bill of Anna Hazare would also be incorporated.

"There is a provision of Lokayukta in our state but we want to make it an effective and strong Lokayukta," he had said.

Giving a time frame of two months for bringing the new Bill, Khanduri had said the new measure would help remove difficulties being faced by the common man.

In this regard, Kejriwal and Bhushan said that a draft bill of Jan Lokpal was also given to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar six months ago but a response from his side is yet to come.

To a question, they said their crusade for a strong Jan Lokpal would continue even after the end of Anna's fast and that efforts were on to make the Jan Lokpal a poll plank during the Assembly elections in half a dozen states due next year.

"We will launch an active campaign against those political parties who opposed the Jan Lokpal in Parliament," they said.

Regarding Ramdev's yatra against corruption beginning tomorrow from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, Kejriwal said there was no talk between Hazare and the yoga guru on it.

Anna has aroused a sleeping nation: Kolkata Lokayukta

‘Anna has aroused a sleeping nation which till date used to think that only casting a vote every five years is a symbol of democracy. Lokpal and Lokayaukta are the only institutions which can prevent corruption and malpractices as they are the watchdogs of society. That’s why politicians are afraid of a strong Lokpal,’ says, Kolkata Lokayukta Samaresh Bandopadhyay, backing Hazare.

Civilians are the sentinel of society and democracy, Bandopadhyay said.

‘Those who are maligning civil society and Anna Hazare must have forgotten Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha. These politicians have become politically bankrupt,’ the 70-year-old retired judge said.

He also believes that a Lokpal bill is ‘useless’ without the prime minister coming under its ambit.

West Bengal’s first and only Lokayukta Samaresh Bandopadhyay, who demitted office in 2009, feels an ombudsman alone can check corruption by acting as the ‘watchdog’ of society. But he says political interference was a hindrance during his tenure.

‘Without strong political will and determination, neither a strong Lokpal nor a strong Lokayukta can ever come into being. The state Lokayukta suffered for lack of strong political will of the ruling class,’ Bandopadhyay said.

He was appointed the state’s Lokayukta Feb 1, 2006, and completed his tenure Feb 16, 2009. Though on paper Bandopadhyay had a three-year term, he could work only for about one and a half years as he had to wait for the allotment of an office till July 17, 2007.

‘I rate my term in a mixed way. I have done the part I could have done. But political and bureaucratic influence didn’t allow me to work properly on various occasions,’ he said.

He said the number of cases registered at the Lokayukta’s office increased every year during his stint.

Former Calcutta High Court judge Bandopadhyay’s comments come against the backdrop of a highly popular movement led by social activist Anna Hazare, who went on a 12-day hunger strike in New Delhi, forcing the union government to consider the demand for a stronger anti-corruption Lokpal bill.

During his tenure as the Lokayukta, Bandopadhyay resolved over 200 cases.

The West Bengal Lokayukta Act, 2003, provides a three-year term for the ombudsman, compared to a five- or six-year tenure for Lokayuktas in other states.When asked about the likelihood of the Lokpal himself becoming corrupt, Bandopadhyay asked if people ask the party in power for a guarantee of not becoming corrupt.

‘Do we ask for a guarantee or stop a political party from forming a government after it achieves majority in polls by citing that it can be corrupt as it has absolute majority?’ he asked.

Bandopadhyay criticised the previous Left Front government.

‘The Left Front initially had the will for a strong Lokayukta; that’s why they created the body. But when complaints started coming against a powerful minister, they lacked the will. I was not provided the needed infrastructure and the manpower,’ said Bandopadhyay.

He regretted the omission of the entire bureaucracy from the purview of state ombudsman in the act. A strong Lokayukta in the state must have jurisdiction over the bureaucracy, Bandopadhyay said.

Bandopadhyay felt that an amendment to the Lokayukta Act, making it mandatory for the ombudsman to take the state government’s nod before initiating a probe against an accused official, was a deadly blow to the office.

‘If the state wants a strong Lokayukta it should have the political will, remove all political and bureaucratic influence, and repeal the amendment to the act,’ he said.

Had he been allowed to hold camp courts during the initial days of tribal upsurge in West Midnapore’s Lalgarh, history would have been different, Bandopadhyay lamented. It is the same area that became a hotbed of Maoist activity after 2008, leading to a lot of bloodshed.

‘I was not allowed to hold camp courts. Had I been allowed to lend an ear to their grievances, as they were ready to come to me to uphold their complaints, things would not have deteriorated to this extent,’ he said.