Government sits pretty over Lokpal reports

BHUBANESWAR: Few trust the State Government’s announcement to bring elected representatives of panchayatiraj institutions and urban local bodies under Lokpal’s purview in view of the Government’s  poor track record in acting on the earlier recommendations of the constitutional body.The fact that the Lokpal has submitted 30 special reports to the Governor since 2005 speaks volumes about how the recommendations of the constitutional authority have been bypassed in the State.  A special report is submitted when Lokpal is not happy with the action taken report of the Government on his original report. The Lokpal submitted his last special report on the controversial issue of land acquisition for the proposed Vedanta University near Puri on May 3.According to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty, who drew Opposition flak on the issue in the monsoon session of the Assembly, of the 30 special reports, only six have been placed in the House. Explanatory memoranda are being prepared by the respective departments on the rest 24 cases, he said.But the Opposition is highly critical about the matter. It is surprising that the Government has been sitting over special reports of the Lokpal for years together without tabling them in the Assembly, senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra said. This has happened perhaps for the first time in the country, he said.Ironically, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik strongly supported Anna Hazare in his fight for a strong Lokpal. What has come as most surprising is that the Lokpal’s special report on Vedanta land acquisition was not tabled in the House despite three reminders from the Governor.The Governor had even advised the Chief Minister to table it in the monsoon session of the Assembly which concluded on August 27. The Congress is now planning to take up the issue with the President. Such blatant violation of constitutional norms has been noticed in no other State, Mishra said.  Of the 24 special reports, 19 were submitted in 2009. Three each were submitted in 2006 and 2007, the rest four in 2005. But Orissa was the first State in the country to have enacted Orissa Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act in 1970. But the establishment of the institution came 12 years after the enactment. The Act was repealed in 1992 only to be re-enacted in 1995.