Friends,
Here I present our views on what kind of Lokpal we need for our democratic setup.
I again make it clear that these are our personal views and need to be treated accordingly.
Amitabh
# 94155-34526
Nutan
# 94155-34525
What kind of Lokpal?
One of us had recently gone to USA where she got an opportunity to look into the functioning and structure of the US system of governance and their particular emphasis on transparency. What we understood was that in America, there is not one organization or institution which has overarching powers. Instead the fundamental principle of democratic governance, viz. separation power seems to be the basis of governance there and everywhere there are a very large number of watchdog organizations who keep a very close and vigilant eye over the functioning of different government organizations in USA from very close quarters. There are separate organizations to keep eye over Media and to regulate its functioning, there are different watchdog organizations for Judicial bodies and yet others for local self-governments, public attorney and so on. Thus in America (and possibly in all western nations) there is a very beautiful and well-placed decentralization and separation of power. This, in our eyes, is the biggest virtue of American democratic functioning. We also feel that wherever there is such an arrangement the quality of functioning naturally becomes much better and hence we also need to adopt such kinds of arrangements. Transparency is essential for better performance of any government and it is extremely useful as well. It does not need much intelligence to understand that wherever there will be openness there is bound to be less possibility of irregularities. For instance, the formulation of the Right to Information Act 2005 has made the governments much more transparent and responsible. The concept of responsiveness and accountability has increased much than it previously was and a lot of credit for this must go to the Right to Information Act. Though a few people are also misusing the RTI Act but their number is much less. One aspect of our criminal justice system that needs particular attention is the independence of our prosecution wing. In USA the prosecution wing is relatively more independent. There the Public Attorney might be part of the Government but they are free to quite some extent to present their point of view. Possibly the situation is not the same in our country where the State has more control over the prosecution wings. In this aspect, we are of the strong view that we need a prosecution wing in India which is more independent from the Government control. More importantly, we also need to have a very large number of independent watchdog agencies in India to keep a stock over the functioning of the Government agencies just the way the US has. In the same vein, there is nothing wrong in having the institution of Lokpal as one of the important independent watchdog agencies. Just the way there are Lok Ayuktas in the States, we can have a Lok Pal at the national level to deal particularly with the corruption related cases. We can get defined the work and scope of functioning of the Lokpal, its powers and authorities and about which Constitutional and non-Constitutional bodies shall come under its purview. Thus the Lokpal can function as one of the very important watchdogs of our governance, dealing particularly with corruption. Hence the institution of Lokpal shall be such that it works as an independent watchdog agency and not as a newer and alternate center of power trying to have fresh skirmishes for power and authority with the already existing power centers. If the Lokpal actually works as a very strong watchdog center, then only it can make a better contribution to the society and can prove its utility in the prevailing judicial and constitutional arrangement along the strongly built and time-tested judicial principles. At the same time, it is equally important that no official perks and accessories be provided to any person appointed as a Lokpal(s). They shall not be burdened with big monthly emoluments, huge bungalows, other government supports in monetary and non-monetary ways, Guard of Honour, gun totting security personnel and so on. He shall not be seen as one more burden on the public exchequer and one more person who has got settled in the government mechanism to rule over the people. This is a purely voluntary work and needs to be seen exactly in the same manner. If no big perks and huge facilities are not provided by the Government, the incumbent to the post of Lokpal will perform his job with more commitment and there will also not be a big fight for grabbing the post of Lokpal. The institution of Lokpal based on the robust principle of checks and balance and acting as an independent watchdog shall certainly be able to contribute positively to governance by making its dent felt in the fight against corruption but to say and believe that Lokpal alone will be able to end the menace of corruption singlehandedly is an extremely puerile and simplistic view.
http://irdsindia.com/Lokpal%20vs%20Corruption%20%28Hindi%29.htm
http://nationalrtiforum.org/Lokpal%20vs%20Corruption.htm | 
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