M A I N   N E W S

Cash-for-CLU scam
Haryana Lokayukta ill-equipped for speedy probe
Pradeep Sharma/TNS

What ails Lokayukta Acute staff crunch resulting in high pendency of cases Its findings are only recommendatory in nature No contempt of court powers to haul up erring officials

An eyewash The Lokayukta probe into the CD case is an eyewash and a desperate move by the Hooda Government to put the inquiry into cold storage ahead of the 2014 parliamentary and Assembly poll. Why doesn’t Hooda order a CBI probe to exhibit his zero-tolerance resolve to corruption? — Ram Bilas Sharma, state BJP chief

Chandigarh, September 17
Even as Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government has handed over cash-for-CLU case showing CDs of seven Congress MLAs or their kin allegedly demanding money for change of land use licences to the Haryana Lokayukta, the anti-corruption watchdog apparently lacks the wherewithal to conduct a speedy probe into the high-profile case.

While a severe staff crunch in the office of the Lokayukta would ensure that the probe takes several months for completion, even in the event of the submission of the report its finding would only be recommendatory in nature and not binding on the state government.

With the short-staffed office already having 1,023 pending cases (as on March 31, 2013), apprehensions are being expressed whether the probe would be completed before the next year’s Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

In his annual report for the year 2012-13, which was tabled in the Haryana Assembly during the recently concluded monsoon session, Lokayukta Justice Pritam Pal rued the constraints under which his office had to work.

“I am constrained to observe that the scarcity of staff in Lokayukta organisation has not been removed. Thus, inadequate and posting of staff even less than the sanctioned posts, is the biggest roadblock in quick functions of Lokayukta organisation given the quantum of cases and complaints. The staff crunch is an impediment for Lokayukta institution’s functions smoothly and expeditiously,” Justice Pritam Pal, a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, lamented.

Currently, all regular employees are drawn from different Haryana government departments as the office had not been allowed to employ its own staff. “In view of lower pay scales, employees from the other departments are not willing to join Lokayukta office on deputation and, as such, due to shortage of staff, the work of this institution has been suffering badly,” the report stated.

Meanwhile, the Lokayukta rued that there was a general perception that findings, recommendations and observations of the institution did not carry any compulsive or persuasive strength.