Lok Pal Bill

Joginder Singh, IPS (Retd)
There is a lot of Euphoria, over the passing of  the Lok Pal Bill by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the 18 December 2013. There is no doubt that a strong watch dog for eradicating corruption in the country, is a must.
Present Position of Inefficiency
In its report of 2012, a prestigious consultancy firm rated the Indian bureaucracy as worst in Asia, with a rating of 9.21 out of 10. India has fared worst than Vietnam (rated at 8.54), Indonesia (8.37), Philippines (7.57) and China (7.11). Singapore remained the best with a rating of 2.25, followed by Hong Kong (3.53), Thailand (5.25) Taiwan (5.57), Japan (5.77), South Korea (5.87) and Malaysia (5.89) according to the report released by Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd.
Corruption has scaled newer heights and spread its wings if anything, the position has been slipping from year, with the result that Government jobs have become the easiest means to become Crorepatis in India, not only for senior bureaucrats, but even for peons and clerks, as the recent cases have shown. Infact, corruption and inefficiency in India, are twin brothers and two sides of the same coin.
India, A Soft State On Corruption
How softly, we treat corruption, can be seen from the fact, that in its 166th Indian Law Commission Report (1999), had not only recommended the confiscation of properties of those who had been proved to be corrupt, but had  also drafted a detailed bill, which had only to be adopted in Parliament and made into law. Sadly, but perhaps deliberately no Government since then, has not, even had a look at the bill, forget about passing or implementing it.
Measuring the Level of Corruption
Regrettably, the Government of India or even State Governments have not been able to measure the extent of corruption, through any Committee or Commission or even a Private Agency. Whatever information, is available is through the NGO’s, who depend upon rumours or hearsay. The Government Data is only based on the cases registered or people trapped, accepting bribes. It is for the simple reason, that no Government, irrespective of the party, in power, has even admitted, that there is corruption within its ranks. Every Government has promised to end the Inspectors Raj, but every single law, adds one more Inspector.
World Bank On Doing Business In India
The World Bank brings out a report every year on the environment of doing business in various countries of the world. Doing Business provides an aggregate ranking, on the ease of doing business based on indicator set, that measure and benchmark regulations, applying to, domestic small to medium-size businesses, through their life cycle.
Economies are ranked from 1 to 185 by the ease of doing business index. For the report of 2013, it points out the various bottle necks like Starting Business, where a plethora of permissions and sanctions are required, India ranks 173. For permissions and construction permits, we stand at 182 position. Regarding enforcing business contracts, we are 184th place, even for the complication of paying taxes we rank 152, registering property, we stand at 94 and protecting the interest of the investors, we are ranked at 49. Our overall ranking in the world is 132 taking into account all the parameters Pending Corruption Cases. Even otherwise, as per the information revealed in the Parliament, by the Minister of State For Personnel, 35 bribery case were registered by the CBI in four years (2009-2012) against IAS officers; 200 IAS officers suspended over last two decades; 47 IAS officers are facing cases punishable with dismissal. The Minister added that The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered over 2000 corruption cases in the last three years and 758 of them are pending investigation. The agency registered a total of 2,283 cases of corruption between 2010 and till June 2013.
Of these, 650 such cases were registered in 2010, followed by 600 in 2011 and 703 in last year. About 330 corruption cases were registered between January and June 2013.
7,157 cases filed by the CBI, under the Prevention of Corruption Act are pending trial in various CBI courts across the country, and more than 20 per cent of them pertain to the four South Indian states, Orissa and Union territory of Puducherry.
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa and Puducherry alone account for 1,608 (22.46 per cent) of the pending corruption cases.
What’s more, several of the cases have been pending trial for more than 20 years.
From Tamil Nadu alone, 469 corruption-related cases are pending trial.
Of these, 124 cases were filed over five years ago, while 43 cases relate to a period over 10 years ago, 10 cases are over 15 years old and two cases over twenty years old.
Transparency International On Corruption In India Transparency International released the results of its annual Corruption Perceptions Index on 5 December 2012. India was ranked 94 out of 174 countries in corruption. It show in other words, that India is the 94th most corrupt country in the world. Such endemic corruption and delay, has already not caused only a decline in India’s attractiveness for foreign direct investment (FDI), but has led to withdrawal of proposed investment by the richest Indians settled abroad .
In one of the largest and biggest foreign investment pull, the world’s largest steel maker Arcelor Mittal, has scrapped its USD 12 billion (Rs 650,000 crore) steel plant in Odisha, in July, 2013 over inordinate delays, problems in acquiring land and securing iron ore linkages.
The development came just a day after South Korean steel major POSCO pulled out of its Rs 36,000-crore steel mill in Karnataka.
In a written reply, in Lok Sabha the Minister of State for Personnel said on 18th December, that 583 cases of corruption have been registered by the CBI between January and November, 2013 . A total of 650, 600, 703 and 583 cases of corruption under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 were registered in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 (upto November) respectively, as per the information. Conviction rate of CBI during 2013 (till October) is 72.73%, he said.
Investigation and registration of cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act are being done by the CBI at the central level.
“The conviction rate of CBI during 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 (up to October) is 71.90 per cent, 64.7 per cent, 67 per cent and 72.73 per cent respectively,” he said
Will Lok Pal Make A Difference to Lessening of Corruption In India
The only Central Agency to take up corruption cases and lay a trap, for catching the corrupt is the CBI. Its sanctioned strength is about 6500 and actual is approximately 5300. Out of this the actual investigating officers, which include the Prosecutors, who examine the quality of investigation and assess, the adequacy or otherwise of the investigation is about 1300.
As per the information given in the Rajya Sabha, on March, 2012, there were 36,84,543 sanctioned posts in various central Government ministries, departments and Union territory administrations.
Out of these sanctioned posts, 6,00,013 posts are lying vacant .. These figures are being quoted to show the grossly investigating strength to legally take action against the corrupt and dishonest. There are far too many constraints against taking action.
Lok Bill is a welcome step as far as it goes. But does it go far enough to tackle the problem of the corruption in our country? First of all, instead of trusting a few judges, Government has made it a body of 8 members, almost equal to a small marriage party.
Even in the Lok Pal Bill, there is no provision for the confiscation of the property of the corrupt, even if the Lok Pal is prima facie convinced of the veracity of the allegations. Again the caste and minority clause has been included, which at times, may divide the Lok Pal Bill.
Effectiveness of the Lok Pal The Lok Pal cannot be effective, unless the Government plays fair, in amending the Prevention of Corruption Act, to put the onus on the corrupt public servant, that whatever property or money he or she has is not disproportionate to his known means of income.
Even Supreme Court, in one of its observations, said that all rights belong to the accused to prolong the trial so that he or she does not meet his or her desserts promptly. Abysmally short judicial and investigating structure cannot end the corruption.
The job of punishing the corrupt as per law, falls within the domain of the judiciary. As against 70000 judicial officials, we have only about 18000 sanctioned posts, with about 5000 vacancies. The result is, that in addition to the huge pendency and further delays, nobody can expect the disposal of his case and get justice, in less than a decade or two or even three.
Witness Protection Act and Whistle Blowers Act, which are vital for fighting corruption are no where in sight.
Why Have CVC?
The Bureaucrats in the Government thrive on creating newer Institution without abolishing the ones which have outlived their utility. When the Lok Pal has been formed, what is the earthly need of the Central Vigilance Commission, which is invariably a reward for the services rendered to the powers that be. Most Commissions and Committees, as well as Regulators are created to accommodate the retired bureaucrats. May be, these are my apprehensions. All Governments know the way, but few walk it, as a last resort. Still the present Government needs to be complimented, as its present action is better than any eloquence. (PTI)

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