GOA SU-RAJ PARTY The beacon for Good Governance D.O. 2nd. Floor Karekar Bldg. Angod Mapusa 403 507 Ph: (0832) 2266111 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: www.goasu-raj.org
Place: Mapusa. Dated: 20th. July, 2003 To, The Secretary, Legislature, Goa Legislature Secretariat, Alto Porvorim- Goa. GOA LOKAYUKTA BILL 2003. Comments & Suggesstions Preamble: By the use of the word "public functionary" the entire spectrum of government, social, educational, non governmental institution heads and governing bodies are sought to be brought under the investigative purview of the proposed Lokayukta Bill, 2003. It would be better explained if those which are not included are mentioned here, as these are few and far between. One such is the Goa Police. Therefore, it is to be deduced that the Police Department is incorruptible. Take an example of the Director or the Administrator of the Education Department which is the governmental administrative body. The Goa Lokayukta Bill, 2003 will naturally bring these heads under its purview for mal-administrative and corruption investigations. Now then, there is " The Goa School Education Act, 1984" of the Government of Goa in force (as amended upto September, 2000). Article 28 of this Act stipulates as under: 28. Protection of action taken in good faith.- No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Administrator, Director or any other person authorized by the Administrator, Director or any other person authorized by the Administrator or Director for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or any rule made thereunder. How does the Lokayukta get around investigating the Director of Education or the Administrator for mal administration or corruption when the Act gives him immunity from persecution.? The Archdiocese of Goa runs the Diocesan schools and therefore the Archbishop of Goa becomes the natural head of the Diocesan Society of Education. The Bill has powers to investigate the Archbishop or the officers appointed by him. Again, "The Goa Public Men's Corruption (Investigations and Inquiries) Act, 1988 and Rules, 1993 (Incorporated upto Amendment Act, 1997) is in existence. We would like to know how many convictions have taken place under this Act and how much has this set-up cost the exchequer until now. Was not this Act brought in to install retired justices and give them salaries and perks at the cost of the exchequer when this office has been totally impotent in convicting brazen corrupt public men? Is the proposed Lokayukta Bill going to perform miracles in obtaining convictions when all this fabulous investigative activity undertaken will ultimately land in the domain of the corrupt in the Legislative Assembly? The competent authority mentioned in the Bill seems to be toothless in obtaining penal proceedings against the investigated corruptors. Is not this Bill intended to bring about harassment of heads of institutions other than the government run institutions who will not automatically enjoy immunity under the legislature? This Bill which is superficially intended to do good, will purposefully do a lot of bad, especially play havoc with heads of institutions unconnected with corruption and corrupt practices. By all means haul up the corrupt at all levels but make sure they are convicted and taken out of circulation. If that cannot be done, then throw out this Bill through the window even before it goes to the select committee and before more precious rupees of the exchequer is wasted. Besides, what is the composition of the said "Select Committee? Will it be the same as the Select Committee of the Goa Ground Water Bill, 2001, where the said select committee was represented by MLAs and no experts in the field were included? If the main objective of this Bill is to put behind bars the leaders of the opposition political parties for their past corrupt activities and amassing of disproportionate assets and wealth, if they do not stop making trouble for the current government, i.e. "fall in line" as declared by the Chief Minister in his public address at Bicholim recently, , then there is the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Why cannot the government use these established agencies to catch the corrupt politicians of the opposition rather than going round about way with this impotent Lokayukta Bill? Who has looked and evaluated the declarations of assets by the government employees which are piled up in the dusty cupboards of the respective departments? Has that exercise borne any fruit in curbing the ever increasing disproportionate assets of the government employees? The fountainhead of corruption is the Legislative Assembly where MLAs spend large amounts of money to win elections and then sustain and percolate corruption to the lowest levels of administration to make good on their election investments. Bring all the MLAs under the purview of this Goa Lokayukta Bill 2003 by giving it the real teeth to prosecute the MLAs and Ministers holding them responsible for any corrupt practices in their respective departments and the sins of omissions and commissions by the bureaucrats and employees under them. If this is done, then there will be no need of this preposterous white elephant which is called the "Goa Lokayukta Bill 2003". Comments on itemized clauses of the proposed Bill. Clause 2(a)to(q) : Public functionaries must be only related to the Government of Goa, institution run and financed by the Government of Goa, and institutions receiving government aid or grants. All else must be excluded from the purview of this Bill as there are other adequate justice and law enforcement agencies to take care of malpractices and corruption. Clause 3: Should be a sitting or retired judge. Clause 9(2) This clause must be reviewed as it becomes discretionary on the part of the government to take selective actions. Clause 10(iii) This sub clause must be struck off. All cases of corruption even beyond 5 years must be investigated. Clause 16 (5) On receipt of a report under sub-section (4) the Governor shall cause a copy thereof together with an explanatory memorandum to be laid before the Legislative Assembly of Goa. This is the classic nullifier which takes the cake. After all the investigative procedures and time consuming exercises involving a lot of money and resources, the Governor will place these efforts with the Goa Legislative Assembly for the legislators to pick bones. What an anti-climax. This classic script must be converted into a feature film for the inaugural screening of the IFFI-Goa in 2004. for Goa Su-Raj Party. Sd/- (Floriano Lobo) President. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
