Haryana lokayukta apprises governor of ‘casual approach’ by bureaucrats in handling corruption complaints

Haryana lokayukta justice Hari Pal Verma (retd) on Tuesday apprised governor Bandaru Dattatraya of the “casual approach” top bureaucrats of the Manohar Lal Khattar government have been adopting while dealing with corruption-related complaints and the competent authorities not submitting action-taken reports despite repeated reminders.

Justice Verma, who was appointed as Haryana lokayukta in September 2021 after superannuating as judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court, submitted a voluminous report to the Haryana governor, listing achievements and the stumbling blocks that the lokayukta institution has been grappling with in Haryana.

As per the report, the inquiries into corruption complaints resulted in recovering around ₹80 lakh from sarpanches and members of different panchayats in 2022-23. The lokayukta received 342 fresh complaints during the last financial year during which 577 cases were disposed of. However, the number of pending complaints on March 31, 2023, stood at 1,063.

The report says that no action-taken reports were submitted in 24 complaints disposed of during last fiscal in which recommendations were made to the “competent authority”. As per Section 17(2) of the Lokayukta Act 2002, action-taken report is required to be submitted within three months.

The lokayukta has been awaiting the reports from the government in 76 other cases disposed of from 2017 to 2022, despite pointing out the delay in successive annual reports.

“It has been observed that in most of the cases when the complaint is sent to the additional chief secretary of the department concerned for inquiry and report, no response is received despite reminders,” the lokayukta has said.

“Delay in sending the action-taken reports within the stipulated period not only results in miscarriage of justice in as much as the delinquent public servants go unpunished but also causes a lot of resentment in general public, which feels that an attempt is being made to shield the delinquent public servants,” the governor was informed.

‘Reports being sent directly, not through competent authority’

The report says while action-taken reports are not submitted on the recommendations of lokayukta, in certain cases the reports are being sent by various officers to the office of lokayukta “directly in a casual manner” and not by competent authority. Asking to “curb the tendency of sending the action-taken reports in casual manner,” the lokayukta has asked to ensure in future that the report is “communicated to lokayukta through competent authority...”

“Thus, non-compliance of Section 17(2) of the Haryana Lokayukta Act, 2002, is a serious issue which has been repeatedly flagged in previous reports also and needs its prompt and timely compliance in its letter and spirit,” reads the report that HT has seen.

‘Reports delayed by departments’

As the preliminary inquiries into the complaints the lokayukta receives are conducted by the registrar and the police of this institution, the lokayukta report says at times even communication regarding appointment of inquiry officer or progress of the inquiry is not received from the departments concerned.

“Sometimes, the summoning in person of the officer concerned under Section 14 of the Haryana Lokayukta Act, 2002, to submit the inquiry report also fails to shake the office of the said officer,” justice Verma said, adding that this attitude of the officers has compelled him to resort to coercive methods.

“Even bailable warrants are issued so as to ensure submission of the reports,” the reports adds.

In this way, the report reads, the long pendency of the complaint against public servants itself becomes a grievance due to the lack of submission of response by the department concerned.

The lokayukta stated that this long delay in submission of reports by the departments frustrates the efforts of this institution to timely dispose of the complaints.

Justice Verma said the Haryana chief secretary should impress upon all the departmental secretaries to prevail upon their respective departments to ensure that inquiries are conducted promptly in the complaints forwarded to them by the lokayukta office so that the complaints are disposed of in reasonable time.

“It is expected that the government will give due consideration to the suggestions, difficulties and problems pointed out in this report and will take appropriate steps to resolve them,” reads the report, referring to tedious functions of this institution that cannot be discharged effectively without cooperation from various wings of the government.

“I hope and trust that this institution shall have adequate and necessary attention of government agencies in order to strengthen it for ensuring transparency in governance and for eradication of corruption from public administration.”

‘Adopt zero tolerance to corruption’

In order to make Haryana Lokayukta Act, 2002, more effective and stronger to deal with the menace of corruption some amendments have been recommended, according to the justice Verma’s report.

One of the suggestions made in the previous report was to add a provision for contempt proceedings.

The report says despite laws and regulations in place for “checking corruption/maladministration”, the problem lies with their implementation.

“In order to achieve total transparency and fairness in the administration, it is necessary that the public servants found guilty of corruption or maladministration should be awarded strictest possible punishment under the law...it is necessary that the government agencies should change their mind set and attitude by adopting zero tolerance to corruption, inefficiency and maladministration,” the report says.