MK Stalin not willing to participate in selection panel meet for Lokayutka

Chennai: Coming down heavily on state government, DMK chief and leader of the opposition M.K Stalin announced that he would skip the meeting to be held to make a decision over setting up a panel for the selection of the Lokayukta, stating that such a meeting would not serve any purpose.

In a letter to secretary to government C. Swarna, Stalin said that even as he was invited as a member of the selection committee, he blamed Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who is chief of the selection committee, and has corruption cases pending against him. “The AIADMK government is trying to set up a powerless body in the name of the Lokayukta ,” he said. “It has been my long pending demand that the selection committee should have a sitting judge of the Madras high court as chief, while a total of five members should be in the panel,” the DMK president noted.

Most importantly, there is no security for those who complain about corruption and this instils fear among whistleblowers, he said, and added that even though he had already urged government to establish investigation and prosecution wings, this was not heeded by government.

The former deputy chief minister expressed concern that the present Lok Ayukta Act does not have any power. “Since Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has been slapped with corruption cases against him and Assembly speaker P. Dhanapal is acting in a biased manner, it won’t be possible for me to participate in the meeting,” said Stalin in the letter.

The meeting is the first after the state assembly passed the Lokayukta Bill in July.