BANGALORE: The state government could do well to take a leaf out of the Lokayukta’s book on reducing pendency of cases. In the last 18 months, the anti-corruption watchdog has cleared 6,457 cases, including those pending from 1993.
“Why sit on cases? Our focus is to redress grievances as early as possible and clear all pending cases,” Lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao told Express. When Justice Rao took over as Lokayukta on February 14, 2013, as many as 4,573 cases were pending and 1,884 cases were registered during his tenure. In all, 695 cases are pending now.
The state government has launched a drive to clear pending files and officers were made to work last Sunday. The Lokayukta institution, however, has put in place a system to ensure that cases do not pile up and people approaching the agency get justice without delay.
Says Justice Rao: “For the first time, we have introduced a system wherein the officers from the departments concerned will give us an undertaking that the issue brought to their notice by us will be resolved immediately. In some cases, it may take some time due to various reasons.”
During his district visits, Justice Rao meets people who come with complaints. As district level officers from various departments will be present at those meetings, the Lokayukta looks into the appeals and passes suitable directions to the officers. The officers will give an undertaking that they will examine the complaint, take suitable action and also revert to the Lokayukta registry without any delay.
“During my visit to Chikkballapur, I got 75 complaints of which 70 were addressed on the spot. In Kolar, out of 209, we resolved 200. In Gadag, all 55 complaints were resolved on the spot,” he says.
Justice Rao also regularly holds meetings with senior government officers to address systemic issues. “Corruption is an issue, but the state government and its officers are cooperating with us in tackling it,” he added.
Prosecution Sanction Orders
Till August 31, the Lokayukta has approached government seeking permission to prosecute 2,824 officers and got sanction for prosecution of 2,738 officers. “Only 86 cases are pending and we hope that it will also come down,” sources in the Lokayukta police said. “The PSO related to some IAS and IPS officers are pending with the Centre,” the source added.