Govt yet to act against officials, ex-ministers indicted by Lokayukta

LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government is yet to take action against more than two dozen officers and ex-ministers indicted by UP Lokayukta on charges of committing irregularities and corruption.

“We have sent reports in 17 cases of corruption compared to eight last year. But so far we have not received any response from the government despite several follow-ups and special recommendations,” said deputy Lokayukta Shambhu Singh Yadav. Unlike his predecessor, NK Mehrotra, who used to interact with the media himself, Lokayukta Sanjay Mishra chose to stay away from the press conference called to highlight work done in the past one-year, citing office propriety.

“The UP Lokayukta has been brought under the ambit of Right To Information Act but we still cannot disclose the names of officials or former ministers who have been indicted,” said Yadav.

He said his office lacked the staff and investigation machinery and even though the issue was discussed with the state government, no steps have been taken in this regard so far.

As of now, the Lokayukta depends on the state investigation agency to conduct a probe into a case registered with it. And there is no dearth of complaints against the corrupt.

“We received 3,137 complaints this year and after scrutiny and preliminary inquiry, registered cases in 882 cases as compared to 615 cases, last year,” said Yadav.

Unlike its counterparts in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttarakhand, the UP Lokayukta has no power to move against a corrupt official, legislator or minister on its own unless there is a complaint.

Moreover, it also lacks the power to carry out searches, seizure and prosecution.

“We wanted Uttar Pradesh to emulate the MP model on Lokayukta and even made a presentation to the state government for the same,” the official said.

The Lokayukta sends his report to the UP governor and chief secretary, which are subsequently put up in the state assembly for follow up action.

“In most cases, when these reports are taken up for discussion, the minister concerned says he got a departmental inquiry conducted against the accused (indicted by the Lokayukta) but found nothing and the matter is closed,” said another official. Soon after coming to power, the BJP government had accused their predecessors for not doing anything on the special reports of Lokayukta sent by Raj Bhawan for action.

Subsequently, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had formed a committee headed by the chief secretary to review action on the reports submitted by Lokayukta on a regular basis.