Join the Uttarakhand Portal On Facebook
Friday 2 September 2011
Uttarakhand Government to have Lokpals for MGNREGA monitoring in every district
Taking a step towards a Lokpal, the Uttarakhand government today shortlisted candidates for the post of Lokpal in each of the 13 districts of the state. The objective of this move is to monitor the works being done under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA or NREGA).
The candidates, selected at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar in Dehradun today, would be appointed at the post of Lokpal after their police verification and health examination.
The Lokpal position, which will have powers surpassing that of ‘auditing or watch dog like’ in nature (will bring to light the discrepancy, so that the executive and the court of law can proceed further) in a way that it would have the power to order a further inquiry or lodge FIR against the indicted persons, would investigate any kind of complaints in connection with MGNREGA or NREAGA, run under the rural development department, and action would be taken on the basis of the inquiry report prepared by it (the Lokpal).
The Lokpals would also have the power to summon or hire the services of experts while redressing the complaints.
However, the information and documents provided to the Lokpals for inquiry would remain "confidential" and he would have to present a report about the functioning of his office to the Chief Secretary, Secretary and state nodal department every year.
On a casual glance the proposed Lokpals in each district of Uttarakhand appears to be a real transparency move by the Uttarakhand Government; but the fact these Lokpals are restricted by confidentiality clause, makes the move somewhat opaque and less effective. For instance, what would have happened if the Karnataka Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde, would be bound by a clause, barring him from making the his findings about former CM Yeddyurappa public. Yes, you guessed it right; nothing would have happened.
Another provision of the new Lokpals – which makes them present a report about the functioning of his office to the Chief Secretary, Secretary and state nodal department every year, will not be able to tackle the corruption which happens at upper levels of bureaucracy; as Lokpal has to report to the same executive.
----
The candidates, selected at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar in Dehradun today, would be appointed at the post of Lokpal after their police verification and health examination.
The Lokpal position, which will have powers surpassing that of ‘auditing or watch dog like’ in nature (will bring to light the discrepancy, so that the executive and the court of law can proceed further) in a way that it would have the power to order a further inquiry or lodge FIR against the indicted persons, would investigate any kind of complaints in connection with MGNREGA or NREAGA, run under the rural development department, and action would be taken on the basis of the inquiry report prepared by it (the Lokpal).
The Lokpals would also have the power to summon or hire the services of experts while redressing the complaints.
However, the information and documents provided to the Lokpals for inquiry would remain "confidential" and he would have to present a report about the functioning of his office to the Chief Secretary, Secretary and state nodal department every year.
On a casual glance the proposed Lokpals in each district of Uttarakhand appears to be a real transparency move by the Uttarakhand Government; but the fact these Lokpals are restricted by confidentiality clause, makes the move somewhat opaque and less effective. For instance, what would have happened if the Karnataka Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde, would be bound by a clause, barring him from making the his findings about former CM Yeddyurappa public. Yes, you guessed it right; nothing would have happened.
Another provision of the new Lokpals – which makes them present a report about the functioning of his office to the Chief Secretary, Secretary and state nodal department every year, will not be able to tackle the corruption which happens at upper levels of bureaucracy; as Lokpal has to report to the same executive.
----
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 constructive comments:
Post a Comment