Goa govt's move to dilute Lokayukta to control its functioning: Ex-CJ Rebello

PANAJI: The former chief justice of Allahabad high court, justice Ferdino Rebello, on Thursday came down heavily on the Goa government for its intention to dilute the Goa Lokayukta Act and said it smacks of plans to control its functioning by making it accountable to the people whom it is supposed to investigate.
“The proposed bill, which seeks amendment to the Goa Lokayukta Act, in my opinion is retrograde and defeats the very object of the Act,” Rebello told TOI.
“It will be better if the Act itself is repealed and public money not wasted if the chief minister, ministers and public officers can only be investigated by taking permission of the very officers who are under the control of the chief minister or the ministers,” he said.
Rebello said the Act was enacted to bring in transparency and remove maladministration in the functioning of the government and its functionaries.
Instead, the bill now seeks to omit the acts of maladministration from the scope of review by the Lokayukta, he said.
“This is highly objectionable. Corruption and maladministration are two sides of the same coin. To omit acts of maladministration is to keep Lokayukta from investigating such cases. Apart from corruption, maladministration affects the common citizen. The present Bill seeks to dilute the power of Lokayukta and put hurdles in the functioning of Lokayukta,” he said.
“The object of the Act was to investigate acts of corruption and maladministration by ministers and public officers. By seeking to provide for prior sanction, is to control the entire functioning of the Lokayukta,” Rebello said.