Welcoming the High Court’s recent decision to abolish the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and restore the power of Lokayukta police to probe graft cases, former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde emphasised the need for removal of the sanction needed from the government to book a criminal case against public servants.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru on Friday, Mr. Hegde said that the mandatory requirement of government sanction to register a criminal case against public servants was an archaic law dating back to the British period when the then government thought it is necessary to protect their officials from false complaints during the freedom movement. “Now, we have our own government. What is the need for such a law now,” he said.
“An ordinary person has no such protection. He can be chargesheeted and proceeded against in a court. What is the need for government permission to book cases against government servants, including ministers. Remove the need for such a sanction,” he said.
Mr. Hegde also said an amendment to the Lokayukta Act will not be enough until a strong police force and other necessary facilities are given to the Lokayukta. The police officials are sent to the Lokayukta only after the necessary approval of the Lokayukta that should study the background of the police officials. The Lokayukta police can do better than the ACB, he felt.
Mr. Hegde said all the three mainstream political parties in Karnataka were not in favour of strenghtening the Lokayukta. He recalled that Congress, which was in the Opposition when the illegal mining report was submitted in 2011, took out a padayatra from Bengaluru to Ballari demanding implementation of the report. The party, which promised to enforce the report if it formed the government, ironically took away power from the Lokayukta in 2016.
The BJP, which was in Opposition when the Lokayukta’s powers were taken away, promised to dissolve the ACB if voted to power. However, there was no change in the regard even after the BJP came to power and the High Court directions to abolish the ACB had come due to an application filed in the High Court, he said.
Mr. Hegde suspected that the State government may approach the Supreme Court to scuttle the implementation of the High Court order on restoring the power of Lokayukta to probe corruption cases. But, in view of the elections and the strong opinion of the people in favour of the Lokayukta may prevent them from publicly preferring an appeal in the Supreme Court. However, he did not rule out the possibility of others appealing against the High Court ruling in the Supreme Court.
