In name only

A conscientious Haryana constituted its Lokayukta authority through an Act in 2002 ‘for inquiry and investigation into the allegations and grievances against public servants and for matters connected therewith’. It augured well for governance, promising people a judicature where they could lug their grievances for assured redress. In their little way, they could take on the system. The outburst of the incumbent Lokayukta has, however, revealed a failure of that objective. The state government, to his dismay, has been dragging its leaden feet on his orders against several senior officers of the state. Twenty-five cases were listed in the 2017-18 annual report, tabled in the Haryana Assembly, but the government has taken no action whatsoever. 

The customary inertia of the government has elicited a sharp response from the Lokayukta: ‘Delay in sending the action-taken reports (ATRs) within the stipulated period not only results in miscarriage of justice inasmuch as the delinquent public servants go unpunished, but also causes resentment in general public.’ The exasperation is telling, even as the concerns are persuasive. In several cases, dereliction of duty had been firmly established. A police commissioner was found guilty of keeping a complaint of fraud pending against an MLA for over a year, ‘depriving the complainant (of the opportunity) to approach the court within a reasonable time’. In another case, stern departmental action was sought against a former MC Commissioner for allowing ‘selective’ illegal construction. The stipulated time frame for an ATR is three months. 

In the face of government reluctance, accountability hits a blind corner. The gaps must be filled, the orders made obligatory and the authority further empowered. The confidence that a public servant can’t be touched is hazardous. The Lokayukta has recommended an amendment to the Act. If no action is taken within four months, the prosecution agency can be directed to do so. The state must take up this pragmatic suggestion, else the Lokayukta will be rendered feeble and inconsequential. Haryana, then, may as well fold up the Lokayukta and end the charade.