Supreme court seeks Uttarkhand government reply on PIL on Lokayukta

The Uttarakhand law brings “the chief minister, all ministers, all legislators and all government servants under the ambit of the Lokayukta with a provision of punishment up to life imprisonment and forfeiture of property.” File Photo

The Supreme Court today sought a response from the Uttarakhand government on a PIL seeking a direction to the state to appoint the Lokayukta, a post which is lying vacant since September 2013. A bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued notice to the state government and asked it to respond within four weeks on the petition filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay.

The plea has said that the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Act, 2011 was one of the “best and effective” measures and was “unanimously passed” by the Assembly in 2011. “This writ petition is being filed…for the implementation of the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Act, 2011. Uttarakhand is without a Lokayukta since September 2013, while more than 700 complaints related to corruption are pending,” it said.

The Uttarakhand law brings “the chief minister, all ministers, all legislators and all government servants under the ambit of the Lokayukta with a provision of punishment up to life imprisonment and forfeiture of property”, it said. Former chief ministers, ministers, MLAs and retired officials also come under its purview, it said.

Under it provisions, the government should implement the Act within 180 days, but “instead of appointing the Lokayukta, the government passed a new Bill”. “Corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on society. It undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to violation of human rights…,” it said.