Karnataka Lok Ayukta loses sting

“The High Court has questioned the locus standi of the Bureau of Investigation (BoI), the police wing of Lok Ayukta, and ordered an appropriate authority to conduct investigation in its recent order,” the Lok Ayukta official said.

Maheshan’s case has opened floodgates with several AGS seeking a stay on their cases in various courts. “It is like opening a Pandora’s box. We are finding it difficult to continue as an investigating team empowered with the provisions of Lok Ayukta Act and dealing with the cases under Prevention of Corruption Act,” the officer noted. “It is better that the BoI is wound up and the Government repatriate us into the police force. There is no meaning in continuing to serve here,” the officer pointed out.

The Lok Ayukta Police blames the Government for this imbroglio. More than a month has passed after the stay on Mahesan’s case, but the State Government and its legal department has not preferred any revision petition or filed an appeal against the order. “Any sane Government will not allow this kind of affairs to continue in such serious matters. The Prime Minister, just three days after the High Court order, promised the entire nation that his government was committed to fighting corruption. The state where his own party is ruling has conveniently forgotten its defeat on the subject before the judicial forum,” another officer remarked.

It may be recalled that former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, when he became the Chief Minister here, had promised to provide more teeth to the Lok Ayuktha. He could not do much during his tenure, and the Patel Government which came after him, has totally forgotten the issue.Fifteen days after the High Court order in the Mahesan case, the Lok Ayukta Registrar M J Indra Kumar in his official memorandum repeated the directions which is being issued time and again, to the BoI stating that, “All police officers in charge of police stations of KLA can take cognizance and register cases for offences punishable under the PC Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) keeping in view the provisions of Section 17 of the PC Act and thereafter to obtain necessary orders from the respective Superintendents of Police (SPs) of KLA.”

“The SPs, in turn, shall make a report to the Lok Ayukta/Upa Lok Ayukta as the case may be through the Inspector General of Police (IGP). Excepting trap cases (cases of those officers caught red-handed while taking bribe), where immediate action has to be taken, the report of the investigating officer shall be submitted to the Lok Ayukta or Upa Lok Ayukta, as the case may be, through the IGP immediately after such action in the proceedings.”

“It is directed that the IGP, KLA, shall cause to be placed before the Lok Ayukta or Upa Lok Ayukta, as the case may be, in the light of the jurisdiction exercisable under Section 7 of the Karnataka Lok Ayukta Act, having regard to the pay scale of the post of the government servant concerned in the case, the FIR, the evidence collected during the course of investigation, the final investigation report of the investigating officer where investigation ends in the charge sheet for prosecution or B or C report for the closure of the case. If original records are sent to the criminal court, copies thereof attested by an appropriate officer of the Police Wing shall be submitted.”

The officers in BoI find these directions from the Registrar a routine one as in the past too similar official memoranda (OM) were circulated among them. The new OM, they feel, is just a repeat of the older OMs. “The High Court order in Maheshan’s case has questioned the authority of BoI to investigate cases of corruption without prior permission from Lok Ayukta and Upa Lok Ayukta. But the practice of seeking permission is in vogue ever since the institution of Lok Ayukta was set up in 1984,” held the Chairman of Legal Cell R H Raddi in his note on June 13, last year.

“But why there is a reluctance on the part of State Government to file an appeal or revision petition against the High Court order in Maheshan’s case in which the jurisdiction of BoI in investigating corruption cases has been questioned.”The officers feel that the silence on the part of State Government is alarming. “Our morale has come down after the High Court order. We do not know what to do. It is better the Government salvages the image of the institution of Lok Ayukta and its police wing,” the officers said.