Lokayukta to take oath today
Maneesh Chhibber
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 15
Former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Justice N.K. Sud, who resigned yesterday, will take oath as the new Lokayukta of Haryana tomorrow morning. He will be administered the oath of office by the Governor, Haryana, Dr A.R. Kidwai, at a ceremony at the Haryana Raj Bhavan.
Hailing from a family of lawyers — his father, Mr Durga Dutt Sud, was a well-known lawyer at Jalandhar — Justice Sud was born on July 23, 1944. The family originally hails from Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh.
Having studied law at Panjab University, Chandigarh, Justice Sud entered the legal profession in 1965. He was a leading taxation lawyer at Jalandhar before his elevation as Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He took oath as High Court Judge in May 1999.
In his new role as Lokayukta of Haryana, Justice Sud will hear and decide complaints against senior Haryana Government functionaries, including the Chief Minister, ministers and officials. He will have a five-year tenure as the Lokayukta.
The post of Lokayukta, Haryana, has been vacant since September 18, 1999, when the then incumbent Justice I.P. Vashishth was unceremoniously removed by the previous Om Prakash Chautala government.
Justice Vashishth, who was appointed the Lokayukta on January 1, 1999, by the Bansi Lal government for five years, was removed by the Chautala government just two months after it came into power. The Chautala government had repealed the Haryana Lok Pal Act, 1997, through an Ordinance.
A PIL had been filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking directions to the Haryana Government to appoint a Lokayukta.
The government initiated the process of appointment of Lokayukta only after a Division Bench of the High Court, headed by Mr Justice H.S. Bedi, on February 25, 2004, directed it to appoint a Lokayukta within six months. On a contempt plea preferred by the petitioner in the PIL, Mr Naresh Kadyan of Rohtak, seeking action against the Chief Secretary, Haryana, for not implementing the February 25 order of the High Court, the High Court has issued a contempt notice to the Chief Secretary.
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Lokayukta rules notified
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 28
The state government has notified the Haryana Lokayukta Rules, 2008, which will regulate the functions, powers, inquiry and investigation by the Lokayukta.
While stating this here today, an official spokesman said as per the rules, every complaint under the act would have to be made in the prescribed form which should be accompanied with an affidavit in the prescribed form in support of its contents.
He said that under the rules, besides the name and address of the complainant, the forms should have information relating to the name, official designation and address of the public functionaries against whom the complaint was made and other necessary details.
He stated that a fee of Rs 1,000 would have to be paid in judicial stamps for filing a complaint provided the Lokayukta, on an application made by the complainant, waives the payment of the fee in appropriate cases. Complaints filed after the commencement of the act and prior to the enforcement of these rules would be deemed to have been filed under these rules.
He said that on the receipt of the complaint, the particulars would be entered in the register of complaint. In case the registrar was of the opinion that any such complaint was not in conformity with the provisions of the act or the rules, he would, within a period of 15 days from the date of its receipt, issue a notice to the complainant requiring him to rectify the defect within the time specified in the notice.
The registrar could extend the time specified on the request of the complainant for sufficient cause. He said all complaints would be placed before the Lokayukta for orders, but complaints regarding which the registrar had issued the notice to rectify the defect would be placed only after the expiry of the period of time stipulated in the notice or the extended period, as the case may be, whether or not any defect pointed out by the registrar had been rectified. Every complainant would be informed if no further action on the complaint was to be taken.
The spokesman said while conducting a preliminary inquiry, the Lokayukta may engage any agency, including subject experts, on the payment of a reasonable fee with the approval of the government.
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