LOKPAL INSTITUTION IN INDIA   -  A myth or reality

    In the year 1809 to register a small man’s battle against administrative apathy and injustice an institution of Ombudsman was created in Sweden first against the monarchy and later against the administration. Due to the people responsiveness of the institution it was later followed by Norway and New Zealand. In 1962 New Zealand enacted the provision and notified the Parliamentary Commissioner (Ombudsman) Act-1962 to investigate complaints on any administrative irregularities and injustice affecting a common man. The success of this institution of Ombudsman had its repercussions in other countries England created the institution of Ombudsman in the name of Parliamentary Commissioner and notified their Parliamentary Commissioner Act in 1967.

    The government of India  under the Ministry of Home affairs notified the first Administrative Reforms Commission under the chairmanship of Morarji R. Desai on 5^th January 1966 with a mandate to review the public administration system in the country for ensuring the highest standards of integrity efficiency and people responsiveness in the public administration system in the country and submit its recommendations to bring in more accountability, sustainability and proactive ness in public administration machinery. The Commission was empowered to review functioning of all government departments except those of Defence, Railways, External Affairs and Security & Intelligence wing and submit its report to the Parliament. In its interim report the Commission recommended for formation of the LOKAPAL (protector of people) institution with adequate power to keep the administration on the right track. The idea was highly applauded and a draft bill thereof was introduced in the Loksabha in November 1968.Although passed in the Lower House the bill could not reach the Upper House due to dissolution of the fourth Lokasabha. There after the said bill in the name and style of Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill has been reintroduced for eight times ( in 1971 , 1977 , 1985 , 1989 , 1996 , 1998 , 2001 , and 2008 ) i.e  over a span of four decades , but could not made through the Lower House in seven cases  while in one case rejected by the Upper House

      .In the mean time, majority states except states like West Bengal Tamilnadu, Manipur,Nagaland,Sikkim,Mizoram,Tripura etc.got their Lokayukta Bill enacted in their states  In the 9^th attempt the UPA government introduced the Lokapal and Lokayukta Bill-2010 in the Loka Sabha in the winter session of the Parliament with a mandate to tackle political corruption in the country with only recommendatory powers. Bureaucrats were excluded from its purview. There was strong opposition to that bill and the same was rejected due to its weak provisions. People branded the bill as tooth less and then started the anticorruption crusade lead by the octogenarian Gandhi an Leader Sri Anna Hazare supported by the members of the Civil Society which included the famous Lawyerex Union Law Minister of Morarji Desai Cbinet Sri Shanti Bhushan and his son Prashant Bhushan and ex- bureaucrats Kiran Bedi Arvind Kejariwal etc.That movement got world-wide applaud and the youths in India came to the streets to show their solidarity to the movement.

        Finally the UPA government bowed down before the public demand and notified a Joint Committee on 10^th April 2011 under the Chairmanship of the then Finance Minister Sri Pranob Mukherjee including four other senior ministers from the cabinet and other five members from the Civil Society including Anna Hazare. A moratorium was fixed to submit their considered views by 30^th June 2011. The government side prepared the report in the name of Lokapal Bill-2011 while the team-Anna prepared a parallel bill in the name of Jan Lokapal –Bill .Both the team convened acrimonious draft meets for nine times in the North Block but failed to reach a consensus and ended with “agreed to disagree” syndrome. The team-Anna came out with resentment that the government do not want the bill to come, while the Union Law Minister Sri Veerappa Moily said that the mandate of the Committee was not to rewrite the  Indian Constitution Political parties like BJP ,BJD , JDU ,TDP , SP, RJD and the left wing parties had objected the bill with various criss-cross views for not to include activities of the MPs in the Parliament, PM`s Office, the Speaker of the Lokasabha and the lower bureaucracy,

     In an open letter to the leaders of the nation a group of 14 eminent personalities (G-14) like Ajim Premji of Wipro Group , Deepak Parekh of HDFC Bank, V.Vaghul of ICICI Bank, A.Vaidyanathan ex RBI Governor and financial advisor to the PMO etc. expressed their concern for the need of an urgent passage of a well crafted ombudsman bill reinforcing the inviolable primacy of the Indian constitution to reflect the sense of the House. From the government side they proposed several critical powers to the Lokpal including (i) conferring quasi-judicial status (ii)like those of the Supreme Court and the Election Commission  the Lokpal institution to be supervised by the cabinet to make that free from any type of political influences (iii) the Lokpal shall have power to investigate any public office., office of a Judge or a politician (iv) power to impose penalty and attach properties of an erring person and provision that the losses to the Government to be recovered from the convict at the time of conviction (v)Investigation of each complaint to be completed within 365 days from the receipt of a complaint and to complete the resultant judicial process within next 365 days, (vi) the existing anticorruption wing like the CVC,CBI and the Lokapal shall be under one umbrella (vii) The Lokpal to be selected from among the Judges, Civil servants, Constitutional authorities, Eminent citizens  all having clear past records,(viii)the whistle Blowers who have alerted the agency about any potential corruption to be provided with protection,(ix)provision for reservation  for the sits of Lokapal from the indigenous communities , members from the unprivileged class ,minority community and OBC communities.

          The government moved its version of the bill in the name of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill-2011on 4^th August 2011 by Sri V.Narayanswamy a minister of state on behalf of the Prime Minister and the bill was passed on voice vote after a brief discussion in the House .The then  FM Sri Pranob Mukherjee termed the ascent of the House as the “sense of the House” The opposition bench expressed their discontentment over the various weaknesses in the bill and its legal infirmity since the bill was passed under the Article-252 of the Constitution instead of the Article-253 as the law pertains to public service, and the Lokpal will have no authority on the states. Later it was rejected by the Upper House and again reintroduced on21-05-2012.The bill has been referred to a select committee for consideration. The Union Law Secretary was summoned before that committee to submit their considered view about this anti graft Ombudsman institution latest by 4^th July 2012. But what it is being perceived the bill is not likely to be tabled in the Upper House in the monsoon session of the Parliament in2012.

        Corruption is a sensitive issue in India which has earned the fame of the largest democracy in the world with a population of more than 1.2 billion while in the Corruption Index notified by the Transparency International this country is ranked at the 95^th position. The higher the index the more is the severity of corruption. Incidentally after the notification of the Right to Information Act-2005 at least 12 whistle blowers have been killed and more than 44 have been seriously assaulted under mysterious circumstances after seeking information under that Act. According to a report released by Washington based Global Financial Integrity India has lost 462 billion $ in illicit financial flow due to tax evasion, crime & corruption in post independence era  Such illegal money stashing has been threatening the economic growth of the country.

         The issue is the administration used to enjoy vast discretionary power in all democratic countries. There will be every possibility of misuse of the authority. Once the honey of power is tasted by a human being, he would not like to install a stop valve in the pipe line to restrict its flow. There is a Sanskrit version that “;youbana,dhana sampada,prabhutwa,abibekata , Ekeikam anartham chaiba kim yatra chatustayam” .Means the Greed of the youth, Wealth ,Power and Lack of Morality are each a cause of disaster. When all the four characteristics are present what to tell? According to the views of the French Sociologist and columnist Raymond Aron in India there is less policy and more Politics .If his remark holds good then the so called policy makers will never let the bill pass as desired by the Civil society activists and the idea of Lokpal may remain in myth with myriads of sensitive issues.