New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the chief secretaries of 11 states and one Union territory to file compliance/status reports by July 10 on the steps taken to appoint a Lokayukta and also specify the reason for the delay.
A Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R. Banumathi gave this direction after hearing counsel G. Shankaranarayanan, who appeared for petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyaya seeking a direction to the states to set up Lokayukta.
On March 23, the court had given time and asked them to spell out reasons for the delay. The 12 states which were asked to file replies are: Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Delhi, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Telengana, Tripura and Union Territory of Puducherry as they had not appointed a Lokayukta or Uplokayukta.
During the resumed hearing, state after state filed brief affidavits and sought time to comply with the directions. Counsel for Tamil Nadu K.V. Vijayakumar submitted that the state was awaiting the Centre’s decision on appointment of Lokpal to constitute Lokayukta.
States weakening Lokayuktas, Supreme Court told
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the chief secretaries of 11 states and one Union territory to file compliance/status reports by July 10 on the steps taken to appoint a Lokayukta.
Justice Gogoi pulled up the state and pointed out that when Lokpal and Lokayukta are two different entities, why should Tamil Nadu wait for the appointment of Lokpal. Asking the state as to why it can’t take an independent decision in this regard, Justice Gogoi told the counsel that Tamil Nadu should initiate steps regarding appointment of Lokayukta from Thursday itself.
BJP advocate and social activist Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay in his PIL sought a direction for the appointment of an independent Lokapal at Centre and equally effective Lokayukta in all the states, which is necessary to curb the corruption, the greatest menace of democracy.
He said that states which had set up Lokayukta, are deliberately weakening the Lokayukta by not providing adequate budget, infrastructure and work force. Governments are not appointing SPs in every district, while the prosecution wing of the Lokayukta, burdened with hundreds of cases, has one or two public prosecutor.
