Listing his achievements since he took office on February 14, Lokayukta Y. Bhaskar Rao has said the rate of disposal of cases has improved markedly. “When I took over, there were 14,558 pending cases in the Lokayukta; 1,100 [of these] cases have been disposed of since I took over,” Mr. Rao said on Tuesday in a rare interaction with a select group of reporters.
Allegations
The interview was granted, ostensibly, so that Mr. Rao could respond to allegations of lethargy and inefficiency that have been levelled against him and his institution by sections of elected representatives.
There is also a sustained campaign in some regional television channels against the manner in which the institution is being run after N. Santosh Hegde demitted office.
“There are cases pending disposal since 1993. What can I say about how the institution was run in the past? It is my aim to dispose of all cases filed until 2011 by December this year.”
Government criticised
Mr. Rao criticised the government for not granting sanction to prosecute several government officials against who cases are pending. “The government is protecting them…there is no doubt,” he said. What about the string of suspicious closure reports filed by the Lokayukta police in cases referred to them by the Lokayukta Court?
“The first thing I did after I joined was transfer all the bad officers,” he said.
What happened during the recent visit of Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath to the Lokayukta office?
“I told him that there are more than 150 recommendations [made by the Lokayukta] against officials for maladministration. The government has taken no action in this regard. I also told him about the applications from us seeking sanction to prosecute some officials which are pending response.”
