Observing that there could have been brazen acts of corruption in the past 15 days, the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday asked the State government how many complaints had the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) received since its creation two weeks ago.
Justice A.N. Venugopal Gowda posed this question orally while noticing that the State government had asked the Lokayukta police not to receive complaints of corruption with the creation of ACB from March 14.
“Why did the government ask the Lokayukta police not to receive complaints without making alternative arrangements? Where should the people in districts register complaints of corruption now? You [government] had no right to tinker with the existing system [Lokayukta police] till you made alternative arrangement,” the court observed. When Additional Advocate-General (AAG) A.S. Ponnanna said that ACB will strengthen the action against corruption with its 322 police personnel, the court asked how the government could make ACB stronger when it forced the Lokayukta police wing to function in a truncated form by not filling up vacancies despite directions from the court. Have you [government] not made the Lokayukta police wing fail by not filling up vacancies for all these years,” the court asked.
“Didn’t the present polity march to Ballari on the planks of corruption? Then why it has cooled down,” the court observed, while pointing out that government could have amended the law to grant statutory power to the Lokayukta over its police wing if there was any anomaly in law as pointed out by the State police chief, who had recommended setting up of a separate ACB. However, Mr. Ponnanna clarified to the court that the Lokayukta police wing will continue to exist but will probe cases as directed by the Lokayukta or the Upalokayukta under the provisions of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act. When Mr. Ponnanna said that ACBs exist in more than 10 States, the court said that one should adopt best practices of other States while pointing out that there were series of criticism over ACBs in other States.
Why did the govt. ask Lokayukta police not to receive complaints without making alternative arrangement? You [govt.] had no right to tinker with existing system [Lokayukta police] till you made alternative arrangements.
High Court of Karnataka
