BENGALURU: Ever since Justice P Vishwanatha Shetty has taken charge as Lokayukta, there has been a spurt in complaints being filed by the public. As many as 88 complaints were registered by the agency in February, which was double the number of the complaints filed in January.
After Justice Y Bhaskar Rao resigned as Lokayukta in December 2015 over in-house corruption and extortion scam, the post was lying vacant for more than a year. Both he and his son Y Ashwin were accused of involvement in the scam.
Out of the total 2,400 cases pending from the past one year, Justice Shetty has disposed 125 cases and examined one fourth of the total complaints. He is now working overtime to clear 30 cases a day, sources said.
Based on a report published in The New Indian Express, Shetty also recently registered a suo motu case over pollution of Bellandur Lake.
To gain public confidence and ensure better administration, Lokayukta was visiting different districts. In a short span of time, he has already visited Mangaluru, Udupi, Kolar, Chikkaballapur and other districts. He also holds meetings with the head of the different government hospitals to ensure proper treatment to public.
“I want the welfare programmes to reach beneficiaries. Anyone found indulging in maladministration will not be spared,” says Justice Shetty.
The Lokayukta institution is also trying to help the government employees facing cases of dereliction of duty pursue higher studies. Stating that such cases are not due to corruption or misappropriation, Justice Shetty recently helped a 32-year-old doctor from Haveri to get admission into PG course, considering his representation.