Dimapur, Aug. 5 (EMN): With the approaching of time to select and appoint Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta in Nagaland, the Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO) has urged the public to voice for strong Lokayukta to let the state government select the right persons having integrity and a heart willing to truly curb corruption for the love of society.
A NVCO’s statement issued by its president, Kezhokhoto Savi, warned the state government not to commit the same mistake while selecting a person for Lokayukta or Upa-Lokayukta as it would amount to playing with the highest institution in the state. He stated that Nagaland was in dire need of upright persons in the chair to check corrupt public servants and punish them, which is the only way forward to build a society.
NVCO also warned the politicians not to lobby for their own candidate if at all they support the institution to truly function as per the Act. It added that Naga people do not want a retired government servant/ bureaucrats/ technocrats etc. with accumulated wealth for the post of Upa-Lokayukta. The role of Lokayukta is to punish the corrupt public servants for amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income as in the case of the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
NVCO also stated that he or she should not be someone having a record of corrupt practices and pending cases against them with scam and having political party affiliation.
“We need someone a Naga by blood who can genuinely love the Naga society and courageous enough to check the corrupt public servants be politicians or bureaucrats or technocrats etc.,” NVCO maintained.
NVCO has defined Lokayukta as an anti-corruption act or a watchdog to pinpoint the wrong doing of the administration to look into the complaints of the people and to suggest measures to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the government. Lokayukta is to provide clean, transparent, and accountable government of the people. The Lokayukta Bill was passed by the Parliament to fight against corruption.
Lokayukta is a person who is appointed by the Governor. He must be a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a retired Chief Justice of a High Court and an independent person not holding any office of profit. The members known as Upa-lokayukta are not to be members of parliament or legislature of state or connected with any political party and comprising state vigilance commissioner and a jurist or an eminent administrator. The members function together as an independent body which is free from the influence of government, politicians, ministers etc. They have power to search and seize any document of the public servant during investigations.
According to NVCO, the main objective of Lokayukta is to curb the menace of corruption prevailing within the state.
“When any individual makes a complaint against the ‘public servant’ relating to corruption, mal-administration, favouritism, nepotism etc, the Lokayukta looks into such matters and investigates and if they find out that the allegations are true, the public servant is punished,” NVCO added.
Public servants included the chief minister, cabinet ministers, legislators, vice chancellor of universities, bureaucrats, secretaries and the higher-ups of the government department. Lokayukta protects citizens’ right against mal-administration, corruption, delay, inefficiency, non-transparency, abuse of position, improper conduct etc.
