Open Access Research Article
THE CORRUPTION AND MALADMINISTRATION
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Article Details
THE CORRUPTION AND
MALADMINISTRATION
AUTHORED BY - AKILA THANU M.S
E-MAIL : akilathanu63@gmail.com
B.A.LLB(HONS),
3rd YEAR
THE TAMILNADU
DR AMBEBKAR LAW UNIVERSITY,
SCHOOL OF
EXELLENCE IN LAW,
THARAMANI
CHENNAI -600113
CONTEXT OF MALADMINISTRATION
The
Office of the Ombudsman was established under the Ombudsman Act 1980. The
Ombudsman is an independent and non-partisan office holder who oversees public
administration, which includes not only the public health service, but also the
Civil Service and Local Authorities. The Office deal with specific complaints
from the public about administrative Injustice and maladministration it has the
power to investigate, report upon, and make recommendations about individual
cases and administrative procedures and it seeks solutions to problems by a
process of investigation and conciliation.
ABSTRACT
This
study aims to determine the boundaries between implementing a government agency
(bestuurhandeling) that harms quality state finances as maladministration or is
a criminal act of corruption. Normative juridical research methods. The results
of the study show that not all companies are carried out by public officials
who are financial sources of corruption. In determining the boundaries between
acts of maladministration and acts of the body or government officials must
avoid discretionary actions that contain legal ribbons such as: fraud
(deception), manipulation, misdirection (misrepresentation), concealment of
facts, breach of trust, subterfuge (subfunction), or circumvention of
regulations (illegal violation).
COST OVER YEARS
|
Recurring cost of lokpal over the year
|
||
|
Year
|
Cost of lokpal (recurring)
|
Status of bill
|
|
1968
|
?300,000
|
The Fourth Lok Sabha dissolved before the bill could be
passed by the Rajya Sabha. The bill lapsed.
|
|
1971
|
?2 million
|
This bill lapsed on dissolution of the Fifth Lok Sabha.
|
|
1977
|
?2.5 million
|
The Sixth Lok Sabha dissolved just before the
recommendations of the Joint Select Committee could be considered.
|
|
1985
|
?2.5 million
|
This bill was withdrawn by the government.
|
|
1989
|
?3.5 million
|
This bill lapsed on dissolution of the Ninth Lok Sabha.
|
|
1996
|
?10 million
|
The Standing Committee presented its report to Parliament
on 9 May 1996. However, the Lok Sabha was dissolved before government could
finalise its stand.
|
|
1998
|
?10 million
|
The Twelfth Lok Sabha was dissolved before government could
take a view on the recommendations made by The Parliamentary Standing
Committee.
|
|
2001
|
?15 million
|
The Lok Sabha was dissolved. Hence, the bill lapsed.
|
|
2011/2012
|
The Government's version of Lokpal does not have any
financial memorandum.
|
Passed by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Rajya Sabha passed
the bill on 17 December 2013. Lok sabha passed the bill on 18 December 2013.
|
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013
§ The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act,
2013 provided for the establishment of Lokpal for the Union and
Lokayukta for States.
§ These institutions are statutory
bodies without any constitutional status.
§ They perform the function of an
"ombudsman” and inquire into allegations of corruption against certain
public functionaries and for related matters.
Why do We need such Institutions?
§ Maladministration is like a termite
which slowly erodes the foundation of a nation and hinders administration from
completing its task. Corruption is the root cause of this problem.
§ Most of the anti-corruption agencies
are hardly independent. Even Supreme Court has been termed CBI as a “caged
parrot” and “its master’s voice”.
§ Many of these agencies are advisory
bodies without any effective powers and their advice is rarely followed.
§ There is also the problem of internal
transparency and accountability. Moreover, there is not any separate and
effective mechanism to put checks on these agencies.
§ In this context, an independent
institution of Lokpal has been a landmark move in the history of Indian polity
which offered a solution to the never-ending menace of corruption.
What is the Background of their Formation?
§ In 1809, the institution of ombudsman
was inaugurated officially in Sweden.
o In the 20th century,
Ombudsman as an institution developed and grew most significantly after the
Second World War.
o New Zealand and Norway adopted this
system in the year 1962 and it proved to be of great significance in spreading the concept
of the ombudsman.
§ In 1967, on the recommendations of
the Whyatt Report of 1961, Great Britain adopted the institution of the
ombudsman and became the first large nation in the democratic world to
have such a system.
o In 1966, Guyana became the first
developing nation to adopt the concept of the ombudsman. Subsequently, it was
further adopted by Mauritius, Singapore, Malaysia, and India as well.
§ In India, the concept of
constitutional ombudsman was first proposed by the then law minister
Ashok Kumar Sen in parliament in the early 1960s.
o The term Lokpal and Lokayukta
were coined by Dr. L. M. Singhvi.
§ In 1966, the First Administrative
Reforms Commission recommended the setting up of two independent authorities- at the central and state level,
to look into complaints against public functionaries, including MPs.
§ In 1968, Lokpal bill was passed in
Lok Sabha but lapsed with the dissolution of Lok Sabha and since then it has
lapsed in the Lok Sabha many times.
o Till 2011 eight attempts were made to
pass the Bill, but all met with failure.
o In 2002, the Commission to Review
the Working of the Constitution headed by M.N. Venkatachaliah recommended the
appointment of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas, also recommended that the
PM be kept out of the ambit of the authority.
o In 2005, the Second
Administrative Reforms Commission chaired by Veerappa Moily recommended
that the office of Lokpal should be established without delay.
§ In 2011, the government formed a
Group of Ministers, chaired by Pranab Mukherjee to suggest measures to tackle
corruption and examine the proposal of a Lokpal Bill.
o "India Against Corruption
movement" led by Anna Hazare put pressure on the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre and resulted in the passing of the
Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2013, in both the Houses of Parliament.
o It received assent from President on
1 January 2014 and came into force on 16 January 2014.
What are the Key Provisions of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Amendment) Act,
2016?
§ It amended the Lokpal and Lokayukta
Act, 2013.
§ It also amended section 44 of the
2013 Act that deals with the provision of furnishing of details of assets and
liabilities of public servants within 30 days of joining the government
service.
§ It replaces the time limit of 30
days, now the public servants will make a declaration of their assets and
liabilities in the form and manner as prescribed by the government.
OMBUDSMAN
The meaning
of Ombudsman is-an official appointed to investigate individuals’ complaints
against maladministration, especially that of public authority. The precise
meaning of the term Ombudsman is grievance officer. An Ombudsman is a public
officer whose function is to investigate the grievances, raised by citizens
regarding maladministration of the authority. In other words if there are gross
lapses in the functioning of the public administration the citizens have power
to lodge complaint against the concerned authority. He is an officer of
parliament.
Powers and Functions:
(1) An important function
of Ombudsman is to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens and needless to
say that primarily for this purpose the post of ombudsman was instituted
(2) In the Scandinavian countries the
ombudsman has another function. The ombudsman shall have the power to supervise
the general civil administration. On this point the duty of ombudsman is
closely connected with the public administration.
(3) In many states Ombudsman or institution
like this supervises the general administration. It is also called general
surveillance of the functioning of the government.
(4) In some countries the
Ombudsman enjoys enormous power. For examples in Sweden the Ombudsman has been
empowered to investigate the cases of corruption (in any form) not only against
the government officers but also against the judges of the highest court
(5) In UK the Parliamentary Commissioner
(British type of Ombudsman) also acts as a Health Commissioner. In 1974 the
British parliament enacted a law to enhance the jurisdiction of Parliamentary
Commissioner to the level of local government. The local councilors can lodge
complaints against the local body and can seek redressed of grievances.
(6) An important function of Ombudsman is the
exercise of discretionary powers. The discretionary powers are really vast and
how to use these powers depend upon the person concerned. Discretionary powers
include corruption, negligency, inefficiency, misbehaviour etc.
OMBUDSMAN IN INDIA
The functions of the
ombudsman which were successful in the other countries inspired the established
of Local and Lokayuktas in India also. Local is the Indian Ombudsman and
Lokayuktas is the State Ombudsman. In 1962, M.C. Setalvad suggested the idea of
establishing an Ombudsman at the All India Lawyers’ Conference. The
Administrative Reforms Committee made a proposal to the Government in 1968. In
1971, the bill was again introduced, however to end up in failure.
Composition of the Lokpal
The office of Lokpal Comprises of a Chairman
and upto 8 members. The chairman of the Lokpal can be current or former judge
of the Supreme Court or the chief justice of High Courts. Or An eminent person
i.e. he is a person of neat and clean image and outstanding ability having
special knowledge and expertise of not less than 25 years in the matters
relating to;
1) Anti Corruption Policy
2) Public administration
3) Vigilance
Powers of Lokpal is given
under section 25 of the Act, 2013. If the Lokpal receives a complaint under the
prevention of corruption act 1988, then it can initiate the investigation. If
the complaint found true in the investigation then the Lokpal can ask the
government to take disciplinary action against the accused public servants or
can file a corruption case in a special court.
Criticism:
May lead
to further bureaucratic delay and inefficiency if corrupt bureaucrats introduce
red tape in order to extort more bribes. Such inadequacies in institutional
efficiency could affect growth indirectly by lowering the private marginal
product of capital and investment rate.
Article Information
THE CORRUPTION AND MALADMINISTRATION
Authors: AKILA THANU M.S
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2023/10/20
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
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