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ARTICLE REVIEW

‘THE P0SITION OF OMBUDSMAN IN INDIA’

PREPARED BY: Sanjog Dewan 18GLB068

SIKKIM GOVERNMENT LAW COLLEGE

PREPARED FOR: MS. THSERING CHODEN BHUTIA

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Dhawan and Vidhi Marwaha, ‘Position of Ombudsman in India’, International Journal of Law Management and
Humanities, [Vol.3 Iss 2; 641] 2020

INTRODUCTION
The Article ‘Position of Ombudsman in India’, written by Yash Dhawan and Vidhi Marwaha, print edition of
the International Journal of Law Management and Humanities 2020. "Ombudsman" was borrowed from
Swedish, where it means "representative" and ultimately derives from the Old Norse word umboth
(commission) and mathr ("man"). Sweden became the first country to appoint an independent official known as
Ombudsman to investigate complaints against the government officials and agencies. since then, other countries
have appointed similar officials. The word also designates a person who reviews complaints against such
organisation or to someone who enforces standards of journalistic ethics at a newspaper.
This concept of constitutional ombudsman in India was first introduced by the Minister of Law, Ashok Kumar
Sen in the early 1960. The unanimous recommendation that the institution of Ombudsman and such machinery
must also be established in India was given by the Administrative Reforms Commission appointed in the year
1966. This commission was asked to study in particular the “Problems of redress of citizen’s grievances”. The
interim report regarding the same was submitted to the then Prime Minister of India by the Chairman of the
Commission through a letter dated October 20, 1966. The report recommended the establishment of an
institution called as ‘lokpal’ which would be dealing with complaints and grievances of the citizens against the
administrative acts of Ministers or Secretaries to Government at the Centre and the States; and another
institution under the name of ‘lokayuktas’, also in each State and at the Centre in order to deal with the issues of
maladministration relating to other administrative officials. The Commission also suggested that an in-built
departmental machinery must also be established within each ministry or department in order to provide redress
against cases arising at the lower levels of administration which would help in reducing the burden on Lokpal
and Lokayukta. The author also has referred lectures of the various well known scholars to make the concept
much more clear.
According to the Article, the duties of an ombudsman are in the nature of addressing and investigating
complaints and resolving them. The suggested usual method of resolving such problems is through
recommendations and mediation. The need for ombudsman can be understood by keeping in mind that it has to
be made sure that there is no corruption or maladministration in the sphere of administrative branches of the
government in order to maintain the prosperity of the nation and for the smooth and effective functioning of the
administrative wing of the government.
According to the author the biggest hindrance in the effective working of the administrative branches or organs
of the government is caused by the prevailing corruption which ultimately causes a hindrance in the
development of a nation. He states that this problem can very well be tackled by the ombudsman as it plays a
very crucial and a major role in eradicating the problem of corruption throughout the working of the
administrative wing of the government. While discussing the concept of Ombudsman in relation to India, it has
to be understood that the role of ombudsman is played by the Lokpal in India.

SUMMARY
This research paper discusses the position of ombudsman in India with references to both the legislative and
judicial outlook. After a thorough analysis of the article we come to an understanding of the topics that the
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author has tended to highlight in the article. The author also has summoned many thoughts of the well known
scholars from which he tries to highlight the topic “Ombudsman”.
The article gives a brief description about the concept of the origination of ombudsman, It states that the
Ombudsman was first introduced in Sweden after which it influenced many other countries thus leading to the
widespread of this concept in countries like England, Denmark, Finland and Norway. After this concept came
into being in the developed countries, the developing countries also started experimenting the same by including
this institution as their administrative wing. Countries like India, Mauritius, Guyana and Tanzania were the first
ones among the developing nations to introduce the concept of ombudsman in their constitutions.
The concept of constitutional ombudsman was first introduced in India by the erstwhile Minister of Law,
Ashok Kumar Sen in the early 1960. The unanimous recommendation that the institution of Ombudsman and
such machinery must also be established in India was given by the Administrative Reforms Commission
appointed in the year 1966. This commission was asked to study in particular the “Problems of redress of
citizen’s grievances”. The interim report regarding the same was submitted to the then Prime Minister of India
by the Chairman of the Commission through a letter dated October 20, 1966. The report recommended the
establishment of an institution called as ‘lokpal’ which would be dealing with complaints and grievances of the
citizens against the administrative acts of Ministers or Secretaries to Government at the Centre and the States;
and another institution under the name of ‘lokayuktas’, also in each State and at the Centre in order to deal with
the issues of maladministration relating to other administrative officials. The Commission also suggested that an
in-built departmental machinery must also be established within each ministry or department in order to provide
redress against cases arising at the lower levels of administration which would help in reducing the burden on
Lokpal and Lokayukta. Later, a bill providing for the wing of Ombudsman (under the guise of Lokpal and
Lokayukta) was introduced in the Lok Sabha on May 9, 1968 by the then Minister of Home Affairs, Sri Chavan.
Dr. L.M. Singhvi was the one to coin the term of Lokpal and Lokayukta as the machinery of Ombudsman in
India for addressing the problems of public grievances. The Lokpal Bill was introduced in the parliament 8
times during the time period from 1968 to 2011 but it was not passed. In the year 2002, a commission was
appointed to review the working of the Constitution of India recommended the establishment of the institution
of Lokpal and Lokayukta. The commission was headed by Shri M.N. Venkatachiliah. He also suggested and
recommended that the Prime Minister must be kept out of the ambit of this administrative wing. In 2005, the
second commission recommended that the office of Lokpal must be established without any delay. It was
chaired by Shri Veerappa Moily. Again, the bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in the year 2011 but it could
not be passed in the Rajya Sabha. Anna Hazare launched a social activist group called “India Against
Corruption” at the same time and campaigned heavily in order to get the bill passed and he also prepared a
model Bill and titled it “Jan Lokpal Bill”.
The author in the article discusses that the duties of an ombudsman are in the nature of addressing and
investigating complaints and resolving them. The suggested usual method of resolving such problems is through
recommendations and mediation. The need for ombudsman can be understood by keeping in mind that it has to
be made sure that there is no corruption or maladministration in the sphere of administrative branches of the
government in order to maintain the prosperity of the nation and for the smooth and effective functioning of the
administrative wing of the government.
The author highlights the various points which can be considered necessary to have the system of ombudsman.
The article states that the administrative wings of the government all around the world has been equipped with a
lot of power which, in the current ongoing modern age is easy, so in order to have a check and balance it is
necessary to have a system as such as ombudsman in India.
The needs of the ombudsman system is necessary as, in the big nations like India the problem of
maladministration is no new issue so in order to check those maladministration the system such as ombudsmen
is necessary. In India the administrative bodies such as C.B.I is not able to act independently, and also
sometimes the public faces problems with the administrative officials, so in order to make sure the independent
function of the administrative body and to check over their powers ombudsman plays a vital role. The
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ombudsman also acts a medium between the government and the public making the government more
transparent.
The article gives information about the Lokpal as it being a institution that is set up at the center and
Lokayuktas are the ones that are established in all the states. The lokpal is formed as a multi member institution
that is constituted by one chairperson and maximum 8 members. The lokpal or lokayuktas shall not be
considered to be the members of the parliament or of any of the states legislature. They are not allowed to be a
part of any office of trust or for profit other then the office of lokpal and lokayuktas and they cannot be a part of
any political party or represent it in its affairs.
The lokpal and lokayuktas derive their powers from the lokpal and lokayuktas Bill 2011. According to the Bill
the powers vested among them are as follows;
1) They will have the superintendence and direction over the Delhi special police establishment in respect
of matters referred by Lokpal for preliminary inquiry or investigation.
2) They have the authority in certain cases have power to provisionally attach property for a maximum
period of 90 days.
3) Lokpal can also recommend to the central government transfer or suspension of any public servant who
adversely affects preliminary inquiry or is likely to tamper with or destroy evidence.
4) Lokpal has the power of superintendence over all organization’s or investigation agencies.
5) According to the lokpal Act of 2013, they can summon or question any local officials or public servant
even before investigation agency .
The author also discusses the influence of ombudsmen system in the various major countries and also their
functions which the author points out in the article.

CRITICISM:

After going through the Article, we came to know the Ombudsman system, origin, history, needs and function.
In this article the author gives ample amount of information about the ombudsman system and its uses but he
fails to put a light on the necessity of the ombudsman in rural society where the public is not well known of
their rights. The author also points out the duties of the ombudsman but it is not quiet clear weather the
ombudsman have the full power to provide justice or no such acts have been given. According to the author the
ombudsman have been vested with great powers and they are fulfilling their responsibilities as well but, us as
being the citizen we can see the results are not up to the mark. The author also states that it is hard to establish
the system such as ombudsman effectively is not possible in large coutries but nothing is impossible if tried to
the best.

CONCLUSION:

After the analysis of the article we came to know about Ombudsman system its origin functions and its
importance in modern age. We came to know how systems like Ombudsman plays a vital role in the well being
of the state, and how it forms a medium between the public and the government agencies, and how it plays a
vital role in checking the corruption level of the state. However, it is also stated that this system only thrives in
the small states but it can be well functioned if proper steps are taken even in the bigger countries.
Ombudsman is also discussed as a key to check the maladministration in the government agencies and how it
plays an important role between the government and its citizen.