Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter EMPOWERING THE FIGHTERS! FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION MADE EASY, FILE A COMPLAINT IN THE LOKAYUKTA COURT

             

Firoz.T.Totanawala

The Bangalore Metro Reporter

1st December 2011 issue-

EMPOWERING THE FIGHTERS!

FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION MADE EASY,

FILE A COMPLAINT IN THE LOKAYUKTA COURT

Gone are the days when people had to risk even their lives to fight the politician in power for their scams, frauds and corruption. It is this fear that has prevented corruption fighters in their fight against corruption. Any complaint with the Lokayukta used to be counterproductive. Even if Lokayukta does hold a person guilty, there is no guarantee that action will be taken. But now, one can file a complaint in the Lokayukta Court and one can be sure of the court ordering investigations by the Lokayukta Police. It has become very simple.

While the Lokayukta in Karnataka remains the best choice for anti corruption fight, the process in the said office was indeed time consuming. Moreover, the corruption fighters were handicapped by filing criminal cases under Prevention of Corruption Act against politicians in power and officials because they had to get the sanction of the government, which is a cumbersome task. In fact, there are cases where the government has refused Lokayukta’s request for sanction to prosecute the officials! Consequently, fighting corruption even with the help of the Lokayukta had become very difficult.

But now, fighting corruption has indeed become very simple, thanks to the Lokayukta Court and particularly to the Judge N.K.Sudhindra Rao. Now, all one has to do is to make a complaint with clear documents and file the complaint in the Lokayukta Court. Then, once the complaint is put up for hearing, convince the Judge about the bonafides of the complaint and the complainant. The Lokayukta Judge, if convinced, will refer the complaint to the Lokayukta police for investigations and set a dead line to the Lokayukta police for submission of the investigation report.

Once the Lokayukta police start the investigations after registering the FIR, the law will take its course. In that event, the guilty cannot escape the long arms of law. It goes without saying that the trial will commence soon after the charge sheet is filed. In the probable event of the corrupt politician or bureaucrat trying to threaten the witnesses or tamper with records, one can be sure of the judge suspending the bail and sending the accused to jail under judicial custody!  That is why the accused will have to think many times before venturing to buy the witnesses or tamper with documents.

This straightforward system will be a boon to the corruption fighters. Instead of political leaders setting persons to file cases against their adversaries to settle scores, there will be genuine people fighting the corrupt. The system completely eliminates the present inordinate delay in Lokayukta starting the prosecution.

Earlier the process in Lokayukta was much time consuming. In case of the complaint, the Lokayukta officials had to investigate the complaint after due notice to the officials against whom the complaint was made. The officials could drag the matter for long by getting the deadlines extended often. Only after the investigation, if the Lokayukta feels, it would make a request to the government to sanction the prosecution of the ‘guilty’ official. Even here, there was no time limit set for the government to decide the sanction.

Given the ‘corrupt’ system in the bureaucracy, the concerned file used to get stuck at one or the other level depending upon the power of the guilty. Only if the Lokayukta exerted pressure for sanction, the file would move, but more often than sometimes, the sanctions were rejected. All these would take few years and besides, in cases where the officials were raided/ trapped, the process of investigations was painstakingly longer and it would be years before the charge sheets were filed. And by the time the trial started everybody would have forgotten about the case. But, the Lokayukta court is completely a boon now.

In the Lokayukta Court, once the case is admitted, the process starts and the Lokayukta police have to work really fast and submit the report after registering the FIR. The court will also hear the story of the other side and once the report makes out a prima facie case, the law starts taking its own course. Charge sheets have to be filed and the trial begins and also has to end in a matter of few months. In this system, the need for ‘sanction’ will be dispensed with. There will be quick decisions and early trials and subsequent convictions/acquittals. However, why it took so long to implement this system is a million dollar question?

As on now, the Lokayukta court has directed Lokayukta police to investigate and submit report over the corruption charges against former Chief Minister, present Transport Minister, Housing Minister and MLAs and other big politicians in power. What more, almost all these big people fear the Lokayukta judge and therefore are knocking the doors of the High Court to obtain anticipatory bail or stay against their respective case in the Lokayukta Court or to quash the complaints itself!

Whatsoever, the Lokayukta Judge N.K. Sudhindra Rao has done a great service towards the fight against corruption. What Anna Hazare could not achieve will all his public stunts and threats, the Lokayukta judge has succeeded in instilling the fear of God among the corrupt people, however high or mighty they may be, within the frame work of law! 

And that is all.