THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Industries and Law Minister P Rajeeve on Tuesday said that certain provisions in the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act, 1999, were unconstitutional and needed correction. His remark came during a discussion in the assembly on referring the Kerala Lok Ayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2022, to the subject committee. “That bill was the result of the collective wisdom of the house. Now, we have understood that certain provisions in it do not have Constitutional validity. The amendment bill is to correct this,” he said. The minister was replying to the volley of criticism from the Opposition which claimed that the amendment was to weaken the Lok Ayukta.
The minister cited the case of the Lokpal, the similar anti-corruption authority at the national level, which cannot issue orders on its own. “Nowhere in the world an ombudsman has the power to investigate and award punishment except the Kerala Lok Ayukta. The assembly is doing its duty through the amendment,” he said. Opposition Leader V D Satheesan questioned the competence of the Kerala Government or law minister to conclude that the Act was unconstitutional or ultra vires of the Constitution. “Only the court can say that a law passed by the legislature is unconstitutional.
Nobody else is competent enough to claim it unconstitutional or ultra vires of the Constitution,” he said. Satheesan also cited the Supreme Court order on the appeal against the Lok Ayukta verdict in the nepotism case against former minister K T Jaleel. The SC did not find that Section 14 of the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act was unconstitutional. Instead the apex court approved it through the order, he said.
He disputed the minister’s claim of good intention and described it as an attempt to declaw the anti-graft authority after twenty-two years of its inception. Through the bill the executive is robbing the powers of the judicial system. Even the Constitution has provided that an accused cannot pass a verdict in the case against him. The amendment bill is unlawful and unconstitutional.
CPM member K K Shailja said the Congress legislators were arguing that the assembly should not have the right to deny but accept the decision of a body constituted by it. But democracy is complete only when the house has the power to reject it as well. The amendment bill aims this, she said.