Nagaland government seeks removal of Lokayukta before Supreme Court

Advocate General says Nagaland Lokayukta ‘insisting’ to function online from Delhi

Dimapur, Aug. 21 (EMN): The government of Nagaland has filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court, seeking the removal of Nagaland Lokayukta for his alleged ‘acts of impropriety’.

In a press release issued on Friday, the advocate general (AG) of Nagaland, KN Balgopal, informed that in May 2019, the Lokayukta had submitted a representation to the chief secretary of Nagaland, ‘insisting’ to function online from Delhi.

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“On grounds, inter alia, that his house is far away from the office, the terrain is hilly, he has his library in Delhi and for security reasons. Thereafter, a letter dated June 6, 2019 was engineered from the department permitting him to function from Delhi.

“Later when the chief secretary learned that one such letter was issued purportedly on his approval though he was not aware of the same, immediately thereafter a letter was issued to the Lokayukta stating that the earlier letter issued by the department did not have the approval of the chief secretary, and therefore, the same stands withdrawn and the government intends to conduct an inquiry in the matter. Immediately thereafter, the Lokayukta himself passed certain regulations permitting him to function from Delhi and in the said regulations virtually took away all the powers of Upa-Lokayukta,” he said.

The Lokayukta also wanted certain repairs to be undertaken at the bungalow allotted to him for which the government was to spend around INR 46 lakh, the AG said.

Then, the Lokayukta made another request — to be allotted the chief minister’s former bungalow, which was converted into a VIP guesthouse, he added.

According to the AG, the Lokayukta also insisted upon writing to the authorities to avoid frisking at the airport, which was also not allowed.

At one stage, he even insisted on continuing on the arbitration cases, which according to the Lokayukta Act, he is not entitled to, he said.

“In a complaint case, he directed the chief minister to conduct an enquiry against the deputy chief minister and to file a report in his court overlooking the fact that the chief minister is not an investigating authority.

“In yet another case, he alleged that the law department is a danger to the government because some officer of the Law department, in an internal note, questioned his authority in interfering with service matters of an employee retired in 2009. The list is endless. The Supreme Court has issued notice returnable in two weeks’ time,” the AG stated.