Unit VII

Ombudsman and Lokpal

 Ombudsman- An official appointed to investigate individuals' complaints against a
company or organization, especially a public authority.

This institution was first developed in Sweden in 1809. In the 20th century, Ombudsman as
an institution developed and grew most significantly after the Second World War.
Ombudsman is Scandinavian word. It is taken to mean officer or commissioner. In its special
sense, it means a commissioner who has the duty of the investigating and reporting to
Parliament on citizens complaints against the Government. The purpose of the Ombudsman
is to control the administration and thus given protection to the citizen against injustice
brought about by faulty administration. He deals with the specific allegation or complaints
from the public against administrative injustice and maladministration. Ombudsman may
proceed on his own information in the similar circumstances. Ombudsman can investigate,
criticise and report back to the legislature but he cannot reverse the administrative action.

Development in England

In England first Ombudsman is establishes in 1967 by parliamentary commissioner act of

1967 and it is called as Parliamentary Commissioner. He appointed by the government on the
advice of the prime minister and hold office for sixty five years. The Parliamentary
Commissioner envisaged under the act is a permanent appointee with the security of the High
Court Judge. He investigates the complaints made before him by the parliamentary members
against the government and other bodies which come under his jurisdiction and the official
who fails to comply with the provision of the code.

Development in USA

In the United States, there is no unified federal ombudsman service. The role of handling
complaints against federal authorities has to some extent been unofficially incorporated into
the role of the US Member of Congress. This informal job has become increasingly time
consuming. It is subject to criticism on the grounds that it interferes with a legislator's
primary duty, namely to read and be knowledgeable about a bill before casting his or her
vote.

Ombudsman In India

The functions of the ombudsman which were successful in the other countries inspired the
established of Lokpal and Lokayuktas in India also.

 Efforts to bring concept of ombudsman in India-

1. In India, the concept of constitutional ombudsman was first proposed by the then law
minister Ashok Kumar Sen in parliament in the early 1960s.
2. The term Lokpal and Lokayukta were coined by Dr. L. M. Singhvi.
 3. In 1966, the First Administrative Reforms Commission recommended the setting up
of two independent authorities- at the central and state level, to look into complaints
against public functionaries, including MPs.
4. In 1968, Lokpal bill was passed in Lok Sabha but lapsed with the dissolution of Lok
Sabha and since then it has lapsed in the Lok Sabha many times.
5. Till 2011 eight attempts were made to pass the Bill, but all met with failure.In 2002,
the Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution headed by M.N.
Venkatachaliah recommended the appointment of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas; also
recommended that the PM be kept out of the ambit of the authority.
6. In 2005, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission chaired by Veerappa
Moily recommended that the office of Lokpal should be established without delay.
7. In 2011, the government formed a Group of Ministers, chaired by Pranab Mukherjee
to suggest measures to tackle corruption and examine the proposal of a Lokpal Bill.
8. "India Against Corruption movement" led by Anna Hazare put pressure on the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre and resulted in the passing of
the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2013, in both the Houses of Parliament.
9. It received assent from President on 1 January 2014 and came into force on 16
January 2014.

 Need of Lokpal-

There are several deficiencies in our anti-corruption systems because of which despite
overwhelming evidence against the corrupt, no honest investigation and prosecution takes
place and the corrupt are hardly punished. The whole anti-corruption set up ends up
protecting the corrupt.-

1) Lack of Independence Most of our agencies like CBI, state vigilance departments, internal
vigilance wings of various departments, Anti-corruption Branch of state police etc are not
independent. In many cases, they have to report to the same people who are either themselves
accused or are likely to be influenced by the accused.

2) Powerless Some bodies like CVC or Lokayuktas are independent, but they do not have any
powers. They have been made advisory bodies. They give two kinds of advise to the
governments first to either impose departmental penalties on any officer second to prosecute
him in court. Experience shows that whenever any minister or a senior officer is involved,
their advice is rarely followed.

3) Lack of Transparency and internal accountability In addition, there is the problem of

internal transparency and accountability of these anti-corruption agencies. Presently, there is
no any separate and effective mechanism to check if the staff of these anti-corruption
agencies turns corrupt. That is why, despite so many agencies, corrupt people rarely go to
jail. Corruption has become a high profit zero risk business. There is absolutely no deterrence
against corruption.
Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013-

The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013 seeks to provide for the establishment of Lokpal for the
Union and Lokayukta for States to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain public
functionaries and for related matters.

 Structure of Lokpal-

 Lokpal is a multi-member body, that consists of one chairperson and a maximum of 8

members.
 Chairperson of the Lokpal should be either the former Chief Justice of India or the
former Judge of Supreme Court or an eminent person with impeccable integrity and
outstanding ability, having special knowledge and expertise of minimum 25 years in
the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance
including insurance and banking, law and management.
 Out of the maximum eight members, half will be judicial members and minimum
50% of the Members will be from SC/ ST/ OBC/ Minorities and women.
 The judicial member of the Lokpal either a former Judge of the Supreme Court or a
former Chief Justice of a High Court.
 The non-judicial member should be an eminent person with impeccable integrity and
outstanding ability, having special knowledge and expertise of minimum 25 years in
the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance
including insurance and banking, law and management.
 The term of office for Lokpal Chairman and Members is 5 years or till the age of 70
years.
 The members are appointed by the president on the recommendation of a Selection
Committee.
 The selection committee is composed of the Prime Minister who is the Chairperson;
Speaker of Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha,  Chief Justice of India or a
Judge nominated by him/her and One eminent jurist.
 For selecting the chairperson and the members, the selection committee constitutes a
search panel of at least eight persons.

 Lokpal Search Committee-

 Under the Lokpal Act of 2013, the committee is supposed to put together a list of
candidates interested to be the chairperson or members of the Lokpal.
 This list would then go to the proposed eight-member search committee, which would
shortlist names and place them before the selection panel headed by the Prime
Minister.
 The selection panel may or may not pick names suggested by the search committee.
 In September 2018, the government had constituted a search committee headed by
former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai.
 Lokpal Jurisdiction and Powers-

 Jurisdiction of Lokpal includes Prime Minister, Ministers, members of Parliament,

Groups A, B, C and D officers and officials of Central Government.
 Jurisdiction of the Lokpal included the Prime Minister except on allegations of
corruption relating to international relations, security, the public order, atomic
energy and space.
 The Lokpal does not have jurisdiction over Ministers and MPs in the matter of
anything said in Parliament or a vote given there.
 Its jurisdiction also includes any person who is or has been in charge (director/
manager/ secretary) of anybody/ society set up by central act or any other body
financed/ controlled by central government and any other person involved in act of
abetting, bribe giving or bribe taking.
 The Lokpal Act mandates that all public officials should furnish the assets and
liabilities of themselves as well as their respective dependents.
 It has the powers to superintendence over, and to give direction to CBI.
 If Lokpal has referred a case to CBI, the investigating officer in such case cannot be
transferred without the approval of Lokpal.
 The Inquiry Wing of the Lokpal has been vested with the powers of a civil court.
 Lokpal has powers of confiscation of assets, proceeds, receipts and benefits arisen or
procured by means of corruption in special circumstances.
 Lokpal has the power to recommend transfer or suspension of public
servant connected with allegation of corruption.
 Lokpal has the power to give directions to prevent the destruction of records during
the preliminary inquiry.

 Conclusion-
The institution of lokpal has been a land mark move in the history of Indian polity,
The lokpal and lokayukta act 2013 has offered a productive solution to combat the
never ending menace of corruption. The institution of lokpal has tried to bring a
much needed change in the battle against corruption in the administrative structure of
India but at the same time there are loopholes and lacunae which need to be corrected.
Lokpal is not free from political influence as the appointing committee itself consist
of members from political parties. The appointment of Lokpal can be manipulated in a
way as there is no criterion to decide who is an ‘eminent jurist’ or ‘a person of
integrity.’ The biggest lacuna is the exclusion of judiciary from the ambit of the
Lokpal. The Lokpal is not given any constitutional backing and there is no adequate
provision for appeal against the Lokpal.
 Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)
Central Vigilance Commission is the apex vigilance institution, free of control from any
executive authority, monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government and
advising various authorities in Central Government organizations in planning, executing,
reviewing and reforming their vigilance work. Vigilance means to ensure clean and prompt
administrative action towards achieving efficiency and effectiveness of the employees in
particular and the organization in general, as lack of Vigilance leans to waste, losses and
economic decline.

The CVC was set up by the Government in February, 1964 on the recommendations of
the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, headed by Shri K. Santhanam. In 2003, the
Parliament enacted CVC Act conferring statutory status on the CVC. The CVC is not
controlled by any Ministry/Department. It is an independent body which is only responsible
to the Parliament.

 Functions-

 The CVC receives complaints on corruption or misuse of office and to recommend

appropriate action. Following institutions, bodies, or a person can approach to CVC:
Central government, Lokpal, Whistle blowers [A whistleblower is a person, who
could be an employee of a company, or a government agency, or an outsider (like
media, higher government officials, or police) disclosing information to the public or
some higher authority about any wrongdoing, which could be in the form of fraud,
corruption, etc.]
 It is not an investigating agency. The CVC either gets the investigation done through
the CBI or through chief vigilance officers (CVO) in government offices.
 CVC has no investigation wing of its own as it depends on the CBI and the Chief
Vigilance Officers (CVO) of central organizations.
 It is empowered to inquire into offences alleged to have been committed under
the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 by certain categories of public servants.
 Its annual report gives the details of the work done by the commission and points to
systemic failures which lead to corruption in government departments. Improvements
and preventive measures are also suggested in report

 Structure-

 The Central Vigilance Commission has its own Secretariat, Chief Technical
Examiners' Wing (CTE) and a wing of Commissioners for Departmental Inquiries
(CDI). For investigation work, CVC has to depend on two external sources CBI and
Chief Vigilance Officers (CVO).

The Central Vigilance Commission

 Multi-member Commission consists of a Central Vigilance Commissioner

(Chairperson) and not more than two Vigilance Commissioners (Member).
 The Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Vigilance Commissioners are appointed
by the President on the recommendations of a Committee consisting of the Prime
Minister (Chairperson), the Minister of Home Affairs (Member) and the Leader of the
Opposition in the House of the People (Member).
 The term of office of the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Vigilance
Commissioners is four years from the date on which they enter their office or till they
attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

 Limitations of CVC-
CVC is often considered a powerless agency as it is treated as an advisory body only
with no power to register criminal case against government officials or direct CBI to
initiate inquiries against any officer of the level of Joint Secretary and above.
Although CVC is “relatively independent” in its functioning, it neither has the
resources nor the power to take action on complaints of corruption.