Bhopal: Welcoming the Supreme Court's decision to empower the CBI to investigate top bureaucrats without Centre's nod, Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta Justice PP Naolekar has lamented that delay in sanction by the state government to prosecute corrupt officer has become a major hurdle in effective implementation of Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).
Demanding amendment in PCA, he said for want of government sanction anti-corruption Ombudsman could not initiate prosecution of those corrupt officers against whom corruption charges are thoroughly investigated. As on today, as many as 112 cases (some of them are 3 to 4-year-old) have been pending with the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government for sanction. According the PCA, the Lokayukta can not prosecute corrupt officers in the court without the permission of competent authority.
Reacting on the SC paving the way for the CBI to investigate top bureaucrats without seeking the Centre's nod, Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta, Justice PP Naolekar said, "It is a very good decision. Now the CBI, which had hindrance on investigating top officers, can go on investigating things."
Commenting on the allegations that the MP Lokayukta being a toothless tiger without having the power to prosecute corrupt officers, he said, "We don't have that problem of investigation. When complaint is made and prima facie case is found then Lokayukta Police can investigate against any government officer.
"The only difficulty is that when investigation is complete and the case is ready for approaching the court because ultimate end of criminal matter is when we go to the court and the court decides. But, because of Prevention of Corruption Act which says if you go against the public servant then sanction is required. Unless the government gives us the sanction we can't proceed. The court says that you show us the sanction otherwise you can't proceed."
Answering a question on the cases pending before the state government for sanction, he said, "Definitely, a number of matters are pending for sanction. Once the sanction is granted then the field is open and we can go to the court. Ultimately the court has to decide the matter. I think that the Central Act, which says that the sanction has to be taken, has to be amended and particular time limit is fixed then the matter can be expedited. This power can be given to the Lokayukta or the Central Act should be amended whereby a provision of deemed sanction can be made which has been expressed by the Supreme Court in so many cases."
Comments
0 comment