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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Lokpal may become a parking lot for retired babus -Himanshi Dhawan

Lokpal may become a parking lot for retired babus -Himanshi Dhawan

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published Published on Feb 15, 2014   modified Modified on Feb 15, 2014
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: Will the Lokpal become just another retirement home for ex-bureaucrats? Government rules say only serving and retired secretary-level officers to the government of India and their equivalent can become non-judicial members, ensuring that the fledgling Lokpal goes the way of the Central Information Commission and power and telecom regulators like CERC and Trai.

Describing this as "unfortunate" and "illegitimate", activists under the aegis of the National Campaign for Protection of People's Right to Information (NCPRI) have written a protest letter to PM Manmohan Singh. The letter signed by activists Aruna Roy, Anjali Bharadwaj and Nikhil Dey among others said, "It is also an unfortunate and totally illegitimate tendency of bureaucrats to consider only bureaucrats and retired bureaucrats as having impeccable integrity and outstanding ability. Surely, many other persons in society could lay claim to such virtue."

According to Section 10 (4) of the Lokpal rules on appointment of chairperson and members of the Lokpal, non-judicial members must have "special knowledge and expertise of not less than 25 years in matters in subjects like anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance or law and such persons must have held or must be holding the post of secretary to the government of India or any equivalent post thereto under the central government or a state government".

The activists pointed out that this was in violation of Section 3 (3) (b) of the Lokpal Act which lays out the eligibility criteria for appointment of members of Lokpal. The section says a non-judicial member should be a "person of impeccable integrity and outstanding ability having special knowledge and expertise of not less than 25 years in the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance including insurance and banking, law and management".

The activists added that not only was this against the letter and spirit of the Lokpal Act but also disqualified a large pool of people with requisite experience.

"If Parliament intended that only retired and serving civil servants should become members of Lokpal, it would have stated that, as it has done in various other laws. Clearly, Parliament intended to provide for a much more diverse Lokpal body. The DoPT has no locus standi to go against the will of Parliament," the activists said.

The activists have also raised objections that only chairmen and CEOs of banks or equivalent were qualified to be finance members.


The Times of India, 15 February, 2014, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lokpal-may-become-a-parking-lot-for-retired-babus/articleshow/30426828.cms


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