The reports along with explanatory notes are thereafter supposed to be sent back to the L-G, for final approval, before they are submitted at the Delhi Assembly. (File Photo)Flagging that the AAP government submitted Lokayukta reports after an “inordinate delay”, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena in a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has pointed out that “being the custodian of public trust, it is incumbent upon higher public functionaries to display appropriate alertness in such matters of public importance”.
Saxena has also advised the CM to ensure such statutory reports are timely tabled in Assembly so the system of Lokayukta is strengthened.
The L-G in his letter to Kejriwal said, “I would like to advise that the minister concerned may please be guided appropriately to dispose of such important matters of the public interest within a reasonable period so that the statutory purpose of laying it before the Legislative Assembly is not defeated and Delhi is not deprived of its wisdom.”
According to information shared by the officials of the L-G house, Saxena received the 16th and 17th annual consolidated reports of the Lokayukta of Delhi for 2017-18 and 2018-19, “after a delay of three years from Kejriwal”. The L-G has approved the laying of said reports before the Delhi Assembly.
Officials said the L-G while approving the reports, flagged how the reports were not presented before the Legislative Assembly so the suggestions and the recommendations made by the Lokayukta are debated for further strengthening the system in Delhi. He said that the “delay has deprived the Assembly of taking cognizance of these important reports which deal with matters of corruption, abuse or misuse of position in cases of public functionaries,” said officials.
Officials said these reports highlighting various debilitating constraints being faced by the Lokayukta in terms of its ‘independence’, ‘lack of powers’, ‘compromised financial autonomy’, ‘non-availability of any machinery for conducting investigations’, ‘limited jurisdiction’…. “was first submitted to the L-G by the Lokayukta on October 1, 2019, then the L-G had sent it to the Chief Secretary on 23.10.2019, for explanations to be offered by the Kejriwal government on the points highlighted by the Lokayukta, as per laid down procedure of the Lokayukta Act, 1995”.
The reports along with explanatory notes are thereafter supposed to be sent back to the L-G, for final approval, before they are submitted at the Delhi Assembly. “However, in a display of deliberate neglect and systematic apathy, the Kejriwal government sat on the said reports for three years. While the administrative department concerned (Administrative Reform Department, GNCTD) took about a year in preparing the explanatory memorandum and submitted it to the minister in charge on 22.09.2020, the minister finally submitted the said reports to the Chief Minister for further forwarding to L-G on 19.09.2022, after a gap of two years,” said the note shared by the L-G house officials.
The CM sent the report for the L-G’s approval on October 27 this year. Officials said that Saxena flagged that the file did not mention any reasons for the “inexplicable and unjustified inordinate delay”.
He also drew attention to the absence of jurisdiction of Lokayukta over civil servants in Delhi. “The fact that if corruption is to be eradicated from the system and an efficient bureaucracy is to be put in place in Delhi, then the Lokayukta ought to be conferred with the same powers and jurisdiction over civil servants,” said the officials.
Further, the L-G has asked the CM to recall even on “earlier occasions such delays were brought to the CM’s notice, and subsequently, the matter was placed in the Assembly”.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government said that the L-G should stop behaving like a school headmaster.