While Justice B.V. Nagarathna held the provision to be arbitrary, Justice K.V. Viswanathan ruled that it is constitutionally valid, subject to the condition that instead of the Central or the State government, the prior sanction to proceed against a public servant would depend on the recommendation of the Lokpal or the Lokayukta (in the case of States).
The government’s recent tender order to procure seven luxury vehicles for the Lokpal has ignited a storm of criticism and public outrage, raising serious questions about the anti-corruption body’s priorities.
The anti-corruption watchdog is watching… from a BMW. It has come to light that the Lokpal is planning to buy seven luxury sedans worth Rs 70 lakh each, one for every member.
The Lokpal has given the CBI six months time to complete the probe.
Justice Lingappa Narayana Swamy, Justice Sanjay Yadav, and Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi were named judicial members of Lokpal through a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique issued this evening.
Lokpal is an apex body to deal with cases of corruption at the national level. It has to enquire into allegations of corruption against public functionaries of central government in a time bound manner.
Chaturvedi at present serving as Conservator of Forest (Research) at Haldwani, Uttarakhand, won the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2015 for his fight against corruption.
He said that he learnt about the threat to his life from the media following which he lodged a complaint with the Parner Police Station in Ahmednagar.
The Lokpal can delegate his powers of, say, 'search and seizure' to any subordinate "officer or employee". This is contrary to basic norms of law that a power once delegated cannot be sub-delegated. This is a very dangerous proposition, which may have ramifications on the rule of law since the Lokpal Act is a very critical piece of legislation. It has jurisdiction over the Prime Minister, the entire cabinet, MPs and all Class I officers of the Government of India, Indeed, the entire elected Government is under the Lokpal, so to speak.
The hope that the Lokpal will be a panacea for all such ills is entirely misplaced. He can do no such thing. The entire concept is not only flawed but is highly unconstitutional. The Act is a travesty of the law which will result in a host of endless problems for the elected government of the day. It is a poorly conceived piece of legislation; even the concept of Lokpal has not been defined.
