Punjab News Staff crunch paralyses Punjab Lokpal

Lily

B.R
Staff member
Chandigarh April 10:

Established to deal with complaints against functioning of politicians and public servants, Punjab Lokpal has its hands tied! Thanks to staff shortage, ignorance among the people regarding the institution, and fewer powers in hand—that makes the Lokpal lifeless.

With nearly 100 cases in hand, the Lokayukta—a retired Judge Justice DS Dhaliwal—is short of staff to deal with available complaints. Sources informed The Pioneer that the Lokpal has only one Inspector General (IG) for investigation, who is functioning without any investigating officers to assist him.

It was informed that about 70 complaints have been investigated and recommendations sent to the Governor, who forwarded it to the government for action, but to no avail. The complaints mostly pertain to selection and service matters, but some have been against ministers and other politicians too. With each passing year, the number of complaints has witnessed a dip. Rarely does someone approach the Lokpal with any complaint nowadays, owing to lack of awareness among the public that such an office exists.

Sources disclosed that Justice Dhaliwal had met Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil to discuss regarding the existing status, and the latter assured to improve the situation. But, nothing has been done. Besides lifeless Lokpal, state’s own vigilance body is beleaguered with one or the other allegations including its chief Sumedh Singh Saini. What’s worse that a good deal of Government officials is facing corruption charges. However, topping the infamous chart of corruption is state’s revenue department followed by the power and police department.

In past four years, VB received as many as 1,200 complaints and 322 cases have been registered after investigations. This year, total of 107 cases have been registered with 66 non-gazetted officers among them, and as many as 89 have been convicted by various courts on the charges of corruption and disproportionate assets. In the recent past, a scam after scam felled out of Government’s cupboard, bringing forth the corrupt face of the State Government.

PPSC medical officers’ recruitment scam, multi-million-rupee scam in agriculture sector, Shagun scam—misappropriation of funds, medical college scam—that led to the arrest of Medical Council of India (MCI) chief Ketan Desai, soil-for-wheat scam—unearthing hundreds of gunny bags filled with soil instead of wheat stocks in government-owned warehouses, Indira Awas Yojna scam are to name a few.

 
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