BHUBANESWAR: Disobedience of any notice or direction by Lokayukta may put government officers in trouble as it would be treated as misconduct entailing departmental action, as per the amended Odisha Lokayukta Act, 2014.
The State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday approved the GA and PG department’s proposal for five amendments to the Act.
As government servants need to comply with the notices/orders of the Lokayukta for timely disposal of its proceedings, specific provision will be made by inserting sub-section (2) in section 22 of the Act for effective functioning of the anti-corruption ombudsman.
Any willful disobedience of any process, order or direction of the Lokayukta will be treated as misconduct entailing departmental action/ disciplinary proceeding against the officer concerned on the recommendation of the former.
In order to strengthen the authority of the Lokayukta, it has been decided to empower it with power of Contempt under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 like the power of Contempt of the High Court by inserting the provision as section 27 A in the said Act.
The Cabinet has also decided to amend the existing provision in Section 2(1)(c)(iv) of the Act for administrative convenience.
The section defines the ‘competent authority’ in relation to an officer in any department of the government, which means the minister in-charge of the department under which such officer is serving.
Section 14(1)(h) of the Act will also be amended as the existing provision of ‘receipt of any donation from the public’ covers an area having no bounds and at times it may create an unnecessary exercise having no specific type of donation, which can be inquired into by the appropriate agencies of the State administration.
The provision will be removed as the intent of such provision can effectively be addressed by the State administration.
It has also been decided to continue the present funding system of allocation of funds to the Lokayukta instead of provision of grants by suitably amending the provision of Section 41 of the Act and its consequential provisions.