Lokpal and Lokayukta in India

“Stop Corruption; we won the world cup, now win the innings against Corruption”.1

“An uncorrupted individual in a corrupted system will finally end up being corrupted himself
except and unless he is constantly fighting against the corruption”.2

There was a time when socially, a corrupt person was not considered a desirable person. But
today we have reached such a stage that corruption is not only taken for granted but people with
money are most respected by the society. The root cause of poor governance is corruption. The
recent exposes, disclosure of financial scams have highlighted the extent of corruption that is
going on across the country. And corruption can only be fought with a co-ordinate effort.
Therefore, there is a huge cry going on throughout the country in order to eliminate corruption
from the entire political system.

“There should be established a Lokpal at the “central level” and a Lokayukta at the “state level”.
Both will address the inadequacies of the current anti-corruption systems and will have the
power and independence to investigate and prosecute cases of corruption”. This is the most
probable perspective that a common man has in up-bringing this very concept of Lokpal and
Lokayukta in our democratic structure. Indian political system is considered as a “corrupt
system” composed of “corrupt officials”. Even a layman, who is not well-educated, will look
down upon such a system where the political officials promise to work for the welfare of the
nation but are working for their own good.

Lokpal and Lokayukta3 will work on behalf of the citizens and will prevent their interests from
the abuse by public office both at the central and the state level. These will be an independent
body and the politicians and the bureaucrats will have no interference in their functioning. The
establishment of Lokpal and Lokayukta will give the citizens right to file complaints in the High
Courts and the Supreme Court in case they are not satisfied with the working of any government
official or any other bureaucrat, as the case may be. For the first time, the citizens will have the
right to participate in the making of law. In other words, there will be a system of referendum in
our country. Such a measure as to establish a Lokpal and Lokayukta which will work as the
effective grievance redressal system for the public is essential in this corruption ridden country

1
From happyworldforall.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-hate-corruption-support-grows-for.html as visited on 10th
November 2011
2
By Jhurry Muhammad Anas on corruption from www.quotationsbook.com/quotes/tags/corruption
3
Lokayukta is an advisory body with no investigating or prosecuting powers.
so that the malice of corruption is removed and the citizens are able to live in a disease free
country.

Struggling History of Lokpal and Lokayukta

The term Lokpal is the Indian version of Ombudsman which is a Swedish term. The institution
of ombudsman4 was first established in Sweden in 1808. He is an officer of Parliament and his
job is to ensure that the civil servants discharge their functions properly. This institution has
emerged as watch dog of the administration and protector of the common man.

“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts; perhaps the fear of a loss of power.” 5

Corruption is a term and every common is familiar with this. In fact, it seems that a person
cannot have a single discussion without the topic of corruption.

The Prevention of Corruption Act, 19476 was a measure which sought to eradicate corruption.
But this measure failed to check the same. A new technique was adopted on the
recommendations of Santhanam Committee and the Central Vigilance Commission7 a non-
statutory body established in 1964.

Today Lok Sabha is the fifteenth Lok Sabha and the bill for the establishment of Lokpal and
Lokayukta had been introduced in the fourth Lok Sabha. It was then described as the Lokpal and
the Lokayuktas Bill, 1968. Lokpal derives its existence since 1963, when this term was first used
by the then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Thus, the origin of Lokpal which is
commonly known as “anti-corruption ombudsman” dates back to 1963 in India. “It was in 1966
that a Lokpal was proposed at the centre and Lokayuktas in the states. For the first time in 1968,
this bill was presented in the Lok Sabha. In 1968, the Bill was referred to the Joint Committee of
the two Houses and it was passed by the Lok Sabha. While the Bill was pending before Rajya
Sabha, Lok Sabha was dissolved and the Bill could not be passed.. The house passed it in 1969,
but while it was pending, Lok Sabha was dissolved and the bill lapsed”. 8 This was further re-
introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, and 2001 but was never passed. In the year
1977 during the fifth Lok Sabha, Indira Gandhi introduced the Bill but it again lapsed after
waiting for six long years in a queue to be considered; the reason being that Lok Sabha was

4
An Ombudsman is someone who investigates complaints made by people against the government or any public
organization. He is an independent official who represents the common man in his fight against the government.
5
John Steinbeck from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/corruption
6
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 was amended and consolidated by the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
7
Central Vigilance Commission is an apex Indian governmental body in 1964 to address governmental corruption. It
is free from any executive authority and is charged with monitoring any vigilance activity under the central
government of India. It was set up by the Government of India on the recommendation of the Committee on
Prevention of Corruption.
8
From an Article, “A Lokpal Bill- A Nightmare for Corrupt Officials” posted on September 8, 2011 by Goodpal,
www.socialissuesindia.wordpress.com as visited on 3rd October 2011
dissolved. In the same year, the Bill was again introduced by Moraji Desai’s Government and it
was referred by the Joint Committee in the year 1978. While the Bill was under consideration
with Lok Sabha, the latter got prorogued and dissolved and therefore, the Bill again lapsed. In
the year 1980, no such Bill was introduced at the time of seventh Lok Sabha. In 1985, the then
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi presented the Lokpal Bill and this was referred to the Joint
Committee which again was of no use. With failures in the consequent years, this Bill was again
introduced in the year 2001, 2005, and most recently in 2008. Each time the Bill was introduced
in one House, it was referred to other Committees for recommendations such as Joint Committee
and before a final decision could be taken by the Government, the House was dissolved. Each
time a failure and the road to its success seemed tough.

So, the introduction to the whole film suggests its difficulty in enforcing the same.

A view of Corruption in India: Instances

There have been many cases of corruption, maladministration, and misuse of authority that has
come to light in the recent years. For instance, “2G9 Spectrum Financial Scandal in the
Telecommunications and IT Ministry under A. Raja which is considered one of the largest
political corruption case in the history of modern India, still remains unsolved; “CWG Scam”,
IPL Lalit Modi Scam”, etc.“If we discuss about the 2G Scam, we will observe that the
government merely watched the events unfold helplessly”.10 In fact, the Government of India had
to suffer a loss of Rs. 1.76 Lakh Crores but still the mystery is unsolved. It is wrong to say here
that no action has been taken against the perpetrators of the Scam because many people
associated with the Scandal have been detained and arrested. But a mere arrest of these has not
yet solved the problem because allegations against the main culprit or the mastermind behind this
huge scandal that is, A. Raja had not yet been proved. Moreover, our present Indian Prime
Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chitambaram who was the former Finance
Minister of India was pointed out by A. Raja, the main culprit behind the Scandal, that the
formers had full knowledge of the same. So, now here lies the impossibility to tackle the issue as
it’s difficult to judge the extent of corruption.

Few more instances can be mentioned here regarding illegal activities going on in the country.
The Andhra Pradesh Government suspended Y. Srilakshmi, a 1988- batch Indian Administrative
Service (IAS) officer arrested recently in connection with illegal mining case; there continues to
be a decline in India’s Integrity Score that is from 3.5 in 2007 to 3.1 in 2011, 3.4 in 2008-09, 3.3
in 2010 indicating a serious corruption problem; An FIR against DMK leader, M.K. Stalin, his
son Udhayanidhi and four others for allegedly threatening a person to sell his property at a prime
locality at a lesser price. 11 These instances suggest that such a corruption ridden system cannot

9
2G signifies second generation wireless digital technology
10
www.socialissuesindia.wordpress.com as visited on 3rd October 2011
11
From corruptioninindia.org as visited on 4th December 2011
be made disease free until and unless there is a separate redressal mechanism that will
specifically deal with the problem of corruption and will prosecute cases of the same.

Another instance was that of a mining case in Karnataka which led to the ouster of the then Chief
Minister Yeddyurappa. A famous bribery case that came to light in the year 1996 was that of $18
million bribery scandal in which the leading politicians of our country were alleged of illegally
taking payments through the Hawala Brokers and this was known by the name of Hawala Case.
Among the list of accused, the present opposition leader Mr. L.K. Advani was also there. This is
really painful to know that the politicians whom we elect as our representatives to run the
government on our behalf and who are supposed to work in the best interests of the public are
misusing their seats and cheating the common man. Here, it is absolutely wrong to say that India
is a poor country because if this would have been the case then such huge financial scandals
would have never occurred in our country. Where does the money go? Taxes are imposed on all
working men with respect to the income which they earn. But how is the Government using this
money. It does not provide a clear picture of this. This money should be utilized for the public
good! Saying that India is a poor country and we don’t have enough funds to meet the needs of
hour, is easy. But to look into the in-depth reasons regarding the same is required by every
citizen so that they can raise voice against the corruption.

A person is stopped by a policeman everyday for no fault of his and told to pay a fine of Rs. 100
each day for breaking the rules of traffic. This shows nothing but the abuse of these
governmental officials. They are not working in the interests of the public. In fact, they are using
the public source to earn extra amount. If the public servants are only corrupt then how can we
think that the problem of corruption can be eliminated so easily? There must be a system to keep
a check on such government officials or bureaucrats or politicians so that the misusing of their
chairs is minimized. The formulated laws have not served in their best interests; for instance the
Prevention of Corruption Act sought to check the policy brokers and prosecute those involved in
corruption. Therefore, a proper initiative has to be taken in this regard.

“Since these practices couldn’t be curbed by the measures under Indian Penal Code, 1860 and
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, therefore, there is a need to establish a separate agency
which will be independent of Legislature, Executive and Judiciary to look into the citizens’
grievances and cases of corruption and that is why it is felt necessary and is considered of great
need to introduce “Jan Lokpal Bill” as a mechanism to tackle Corruption”.12

12
An Article, “Lokpal in India- An Analysis” by “Triloknath Mishra”, www.wisdomblow.com as visited on 3rd
October 2011
“Jan Lokpal Bill is an act to create effective anti-corruption and grievance redressal system at
centre so that effective deterrent is created against corruption and to provide effective protection
to whistleblowers”. 13

This Act may be called “Anti- Corruption, Grievance Redressal and Whistleblower Protection
Act, 2010”.14

Maladministration leading to the weakening of Indian Bureaucracy

The continuing increase in the instances of maladministration has weakened the public faith in
bureaucracy. The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act has been sought to be promulgated since 1963, and
till today efforts are being made for the same which shows a lack of political will to
institutionalize the ombudsman in India. Even though states such as Orissa and Kerala have
enacted their own State Acts constituting the ombudsman, they have not been successful in
achieving the same as the Commissions created through these Acts remains defunct till now.

“It is not wisdom alone but public confidence in that wisdom which can support an
administration”.15

This statement underscores the importance of public confidence as the test of the efficacy of
administration.16

In a democracy, people are supreme and hence, all state authorities must be exercised in the
public interest.17 This fundamental principle of administrative law has remained the same.
However, with the increase in the scope of administration in India, a feeling has arisen in the
minds of the public that this will lead to misuse of power by the administrative officials. Due to
delay in the redressal of grievances of the public by the administrative officials, the public
confidence in the administration has reached to its lowest point. Thus, there is a need for the
establishment of a separate agency so that it can help the citizens’ to keep a check on the
administrative bodies. This vital role can be played by the “ombudsman”. The Merriam Webster
Dictionary defines “ombudsman” as a government official (as in Sweden and New Zealand)
appointed to receive and investigate complaints made by individuals against abuses or capricious
acts of public officials. 18 In its special sense, it means a Commissioner who has the duty of
investigating and reporting to Parliament on citizens’ complaints against the Government.19 Jan

13
Jan Lokpal Bill version 1.8, www.annahazare.org as visited on 3rd October 2011
14
Jan Lokpal Bill version 1.8, www.annahazare.org as visited on 3rd October 2011
15
Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1824
16
An Article, “Instilling public confidence in administration: The need for an Ombudsman like institution in India”,
from ssrn.com as visited on 3rd October 2011
17
Justice Markandey Katju, Administrative law and judicial review of administrative action, (2005) 8 SCC (J) 25,
from ssrn.com as visited on 3rd October 2011
18
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ombudsman from An Article, “Instilling public confidence in
administration: The need for an Ombudsman like institution in India”, from ssrn.com as visited on 3rd October 2011
19
Wade & Forsyth, Administrative Law, ( Oxford University Press, Oxford Eighth Edition, 2000) p. 88 from
Lokpal Bill, 2011 is therefore, commonly known as Citizens’ Ombudsman Bill, 2011. This Bill
is a move towards the eradication of corruption and maladministration in the country in order to
prevent public abuse. This will set up a two tier system that is Lokpal at the central level and the
Lokayuktas at the state level and will work as a separate agency to fight specifically against
corruption.

The need for Lokpal and Lokayuktas

The ‘Jan Lok Pal Bill’ proposes a single, autonomous Lokpal combining within it, the powers
and mandate of the CBI and the CVC and with jurisdiction over politicians, bureaucrats and
judges.20 This agency will be able to initiate investigation without prior permission from any
other agency. The whistleblowers will come under the protective purview of Lokpal.

The need for Lokpal at the centre and Lokayukta in states is therefore, justified in this
democratic framework. After all, public also wants that their problems should be looked after.
This cannot be possible unless we have these two separate agencies to function for the welfare of
the public. This will help the public to instill confidence in the administrative bodies. Not only
this, but the corrupt officials will also find the way out from their chambers which they might
have obtained through numerous illegal ways. This will give a sigh of relief to the citizens. But
not even one has taken place till now. This is the saddest part.

It is very essential to give a blow to those political dignitaries who are working for the general
good just for name sake. A system of this kind will prove to be an effective system to drive out
the so-called “janta-sevaks”, some of whom might not be eligible for the particular posts that
they are holding. Very clearly, this system is to keep a check on the political dignitaries to
prevent any sort of corruption to take place. And if they are found to be corrupt or misusing their
authority in the name of public, they will be driven out from their chairs. This is will help the
citizens’ build confidence in our administration and other authorities.

Currently, there are multiple anti-corruption agencies to deal with corruption cases. But they
spend a lot of time in dealing with the same cases. Therefore, other important cases are made to
stand in queue and wait for their chance to be considered. This problem can be solved if there
happens to be a separate and independent agency that would deal specifically with corruption
cases.

Issues regarding the institution of Lokpal and Lokayukta

To establish a Lokpal at the centre and Lokayukta in the states, the proposed bill, that is, the Jan
Lokpal Bill, has been surrounded by many issues. This bill has been compared on various points

An Article, “Instilling public confidence in administration: The need for an Ombudsman like institution in India”,
from ssrn.com as visited on 3rd October 2011
20
An Article, “Lokpal in India- An Analysis”, by Triloknath Mishra, www.wisdomblow.com as visited on 3rd
October 2011
with the “Government bill, that is, Lokpal Bill”. One of the major issue regarding the Jan Lokpal
Bill was to settle whether the Prime Minister (PM) be included or not in the purview of Lokpal.
One view emerged saying that PM must be excluded from the scope of the Bill. This view is
taken as the PM is responsible to the Parliament and also he or she is the face of the nation in the
International arena.

One of the basic premises of the institution of Lokpal is to bring effective checks and balances to
the system of governance as well as the centers of power, irrespective of their position of their
constitutional eminence. 21

In any form, maladministration is the root to corruption. When checks and balances are not so
efficient, it gives way to maladministration which further paves the way for scandals and
corruption.

To consider another point, in the cabinet form of the Government, the Prime Minister’s office
(PMO) occupies a locus of decision making, and PM is the “Chief whip” of the cabinet. If the
civil servants are included in the Lokpal, the PMO will come under the scope of the bill. 22

Another point of issue regarding the same was whether MPs should fall within the scope of
Lokpal. The Government’s view is that MPs must be excluded from the scope of Jan Lokpal Bill
because the Lokpal will not deal with corruption allegations against the MPs for how they voted
or spoke in the Parliament. Such allegations are left to be probed by the Parliament itself. 23
Whereas, the opposite is the view of the supporters of Jan Lokpal Bill. Another side of objection
is regarding Lokayukta to be implemented by the same bill. Government’s view is that
Lokayukta should be implemented by a separate bill and only Lokpal should be implemented at
the centre. But this is also denied by the supporters of Jan Lokpal Bill because they want the
same bill to be implemented for both Lokpal and Lokayukta. It, therefore, can be said that it’s a
kind of a war going on for establishing these agencies.

The Jan Lokpal Bill deals with grievance redressal of citizens, in addition to the process for
prosecuting corruption cases. It requires every public authority to publish citizen's charters listing
its commitments to citizens. But the government Bill does not deal with grievance redressal. 24

Jan Lokpal Bill verses Government Bill

It is a good opportunity for the citizens to understand the loops and holes of the two bills which
will help in enacting a law. After all, it a citizens’ bill where the agency will work for redressing
the grievances of the public so that justice is done in an unbiased way. However, it is important

21
An Article, “Politics of Lokpal: A way Beyond” by Vinod Bhanu, from ssrn.com as visited on 3rd October 2011
22
An Article, “Politics of Lokpal: A way Beyond” by Vinod Bhanu, from ssrn.com as visited on 3rd October 2011
23
Lokpal Bill, Views Team Anna and Government, from www.cse.iitd.ernet.in as visited on 3rd October 2011
24
“10 difference between Lokpal Bill and Jan Lokpal Bill”, Published on Friday, 19 August 2011, from ibnlive.com,
Updated on Saturday, 20 August 2011 by M R. Madhavan, PRS Legislative Research from
www.moneycontrol.com/news/currentaffairs, as visited on 3rd October 2011
to mention here that today things are not how they appear. Saying that a system will wholly work
for the welfare of the general public does not show, by any way, their pure character. Today, in
the era of modernization, nothing is so pure. In fact, it’s difficult to distinguish between what is
pure and what is impure. Coming to the point, saying that Lokpal members will work for the
public good does not prove its efficacy. It will be wrong to neglect here that the Lokpal members
cannot be corrupt.

We have corrupt judges, citizens, and constitutional authorities. Who says that only politicians
are corrupt?25 Therefore, we see that purity cannot be guaranteed. It will be wrong to consider
only the advantageous point of it neglecting the other sides which can prove to be one of its
strong opposing points.

However, the present legal mechanism is considered to be weak and rather corrupt because it is
composed of MPs who try all methods to save a person who may have benefitted them in any
form. This shows their corrupt characteristic.

Some of the weaknesses of the present legal mechanism to deal with corruption are; the Central
Bureau of Investigation(CBI) comes under the purview of Government 26. This enables the MPs,
ministers and the politicians to influence those engaged with the investigation agency. It is,
therefore, demanded that CBI should be merged with Lokpal.

Mr. R. Sivaraman, former Union Revenue Secretary, agreed that the CBI should be merged with
the Lokpal mentioning that only Grade-A officers and above should be merged. He told that the
remaining portion of the anti-corruption unit should be merged with Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC) who shall deal with lower level corruption cases.27 Well, to elaborate further
on this point, amongst hundreds of officers investigated by the CBI, all, that is, the IRS, IAS, and
other Services investigated except the IPS. This would mean that only the formers are corrupt
and all the police officers are purer than the purest.

So, this also gives birth to a negative view that all the demands of the Jan Lokpal Bill cannot be
implemented. Because what the bill seeks might not be so accurate when it is discussed on an
intellectual platform. The Indian law is in a written format. But, the implementation of the same
does not run with the written words. Likewise, the establishment of Lokpal and Lokayuktas by
the passing of Jan Lokpal Bill might also create the same picture. Who knows that the passing of
the Bill could one day be just on paper and practical application of the same would be different!

The establishment of Lokpal and Lokayukta has also led to resentment among many people. For
instance, according to Pratap Bhanu Mehta, President of the Centre for Police Research Delhi,

25
From “What is Lokpal Bill India” www.sannayak.com as visited on 3rd October 2011
26
An Article, “Issues of India: Lokpal Bill- A Nightmare for corrupt officials” posted on September 8 by Goodpal.
“History of Lokpal Bill”, www.socialissuesindia.wordpress.com as visited on 3rd October 2011
27
From twocircles.net/jan-lokpal-bill-will-determine-democacy-warn-former-bureaucrats.html as visited on 10th
November 2011
the bill is “premised on an institutional organization that is at best naïve; at worst subversive of
Representative Democracy”.28 The Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi also is of the view
that the institution of Lokpal will alone not be able to eradicate corruption from the entire
political system.

The most important question raised in this regard is whether judiciary should be brought under
the purview of Ombudsman. If this is done then the federal character of the Indian Constitution
which speaks about the doctrine of Separation of Powers will be diluted. Therefore, it is felt that
such merging which would bring judiciary under the purview Ombudsman is not acceptable.
Thus, these are some viewpoints that go against the establishment of such independent and
separate mechanism and acts as a hindrance in its path.

Conclusion

The present status for the establishment of Lokpal and Lokayukta is still waiting. The
government is going to begin a debate in the Parliament on Lokpal Bill in the coming days. The
government is thinking to accept some of the demands made by the activists of Jan Lokpal Bill
for instance, bringing the Prime Minister and junior bureaucrats under the ambit of new Lokpal
or Ombudsman agency which will be empowered to investigate corruption amongst the
government servants. A Parliamentary Standing Committee examining the Lokpal has finalized
its draft but it has been disagreed by many members including Congress MPs.

The sources say that the government is heading towards accepting some of the key points. The
Prime Minister will be covered by Lokpal though with safeguards; the government sources say
that the Prime Minister will himself offer in the Parliament that his office should be included in
the Lokpal. For now, what remains unresolved is the matter of who the CBI will report to- the
government does not want to change the present reporting structure. However, the supporters of
Jan Lokpal Bill have decided to take back one of their demands of bringing the higher judiciary
under the ambit of the proposed Lokpal institution after they were assured that corruption cases
involving the senior judges will be separately dealt by Judicial Standards and Accountability
Bill.

Therefore, the present situation suggests that action is not yet taken on the establishment of such
independent institutions. Although, in the coming days discussions on this is issue will take place
so that implementation can be done.

28
From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan-Lokpal-Bill#criticisms-of-the-Jan-Lokpal-Bill as visited on 11th November 2011