Lokayukta probes delayed by departments, officials: Annual report

Jaipur: Enquiries against corrupt officials are an onerous task as respective departments delay such probes inordinately, resulting in the slow progress of investigations, as per the annual report submitted by the Lokayukta, the state's anti-corruption watch dog, recently. Sometimes the outcome of these enquiries comes after the concerned government servant has retired from service.

These are some of the issues raised by state Lokayukta Justice S S Kothari in the annual report 2014-15 tabled in the just concluded assembly session. The report by the anti-corruption body has come at a time when the state government has issued the controversial ordinance, Criminal Laws (Rajasthan amendment) Ordinance, 2017, which stipulates that no magistrate can order a probe on the alleged misdeeds of government officials without receiving the sanction for prosecution from the government.

Enquiries are delayed as concerned officers do not furnish relevant documents on time to investigating officials, the report said. It has also been found that employees accused of corruption retire even before the chargesheets are filed. This was often done deliberately to provide an escape route to accused employees to challenge disciplinary action.

"Most of the commissioners or enquiry officers do not display the expected skill, sincerity and enthusiasm required for the enquiry," the report said.

It asked the state government to take effective measures to prevent errant government servants from taking advantage of technical deficiencies or delays in investigation.

"It's high time to make the corruption watch dog strong, effective and equipped with necessary infrastructure and powers," the report said.

It also sought a separate police wing under the Lokayukta along the lines of ones constituted by Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. "Though the government had sanctioned the post of 15 police personnel for the purpose on October 4, 2013, till now they have not been posted at the Lokayukta," it said.

On October 17, 2014, the Lokayukta had proposed to the state government that if they cannot provide police personnel, the same powers may be delegated to the Lokayukta to seek the services of any state government agency without the permission of government. This would help the Lokayukta to take prompt action whenever required. But till now it has received no reply from the government, the report said.