Asks state govt to appoint Lokayukta without delay
Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO) has alleged that the Lokayukta office was being run in total violation of Nagaland Lokayukta Act, 2017.
In a statement, NVCO accused the State government of flouting Sec. 3(9) of the Act that states that vacancy occurring in the office of Lokayukta or Upa-Lokayukta should be filled in as soon as possible, but not later than six months.
However, it lamented that the government had kept the post of Lokayukta vacant for over a year now after Justice UN Singh was compelled to tender his resignation. NVCO pointed out that even after the expiry of one year, the present Upa-Lokayukta was still holding charge in total violation of Nagaland Lokayukta Act.
NVCO said the state government was solely responsible to immediately appoint Lokayukta considering the rate of corruption in the state and also to dispose of the pending cases in the fairest manner that justice is delivered where several public servants are likely to be punished.
Meanwhile, in the selection of Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta, NVCO warned the State government not to commit the same mistake as it would amount to playing with the highest institution in the State, which was in dire need to check corrupt public servants and punish them, adding that this was the only way to build the society.
It also warned the politicians not to lobby for their own candidates if at all they supported the institution to truly function as per the Act. Especially for the post of Upa-Lokayukta, it added that the Naga people did not want a person who retired as government servant/bureaucrats/technocrats, etc, with accumulations of wealth, as Lokayukta was meant to punish corrupt public servants and also amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income, which might be similar to the case of one former Tamil Nadu chief minister.
NVCO stressed that he or she should not be someone having record of corrupt practices and pending cases against them with scam, while someone having political party affiliation should be totally rejected. He said someone with a Naga by blood was required who could genuinely love Naga society and was courageous enough to check the corrupt public servants be politicians, technocrats, politicians, etc.
On the other hand, NVCO president Kezhokhoto Savi appealed to the public to come forward to voice for strong Lokayukta in Nagaland so as to let the State government select the right person having integrity and a heart willing to truly curb corruption for the love of society and not to commit the same mistake.
If politicians and ministers lobby for retired government servants, bureaucrats, technocrats, etc, as candidates, he said the State government then might constitute an investigating agency to assess their assets so that they were free from disproportionate assets, be these cash or moveable and immoveable properties.
