BENGALURU
MLC and President of KPCC Media department Ramesh Babu has demanded Miniter for Law and Parliamentary Affairs HK Patil to initiate action for amending the Lokayukta Act.
In his letter addressed to the Minister, he said, as per the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, every year, the members of the Karnataka State Legislative Assembly are required to submit their asset details to the Lokayukta. The list of MLAs who have not submitted their asset details by June 30th is released as per the Lokayukta Act. This is necessary in the public interest. Similarly, it is necessary in the public interest for the Lokayukta/Upa Lokayukta working in the Lokayukta to publish their asset list.
On July 12, 2021, I had made a request to the State Government to amend the Karnataka Lokayukta Act and bring an act to enable the Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta working in the Lokayukta to publish their asset and income list in the public interest. In accordance with my request, the government had written a letter to the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms on August 5, 2021 and instructed to take further action to amend the Act. The Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms had written a letter to the Registrar of the Karnataka Lokayukta on October 27, 2021, asking for an opinion on the amendment of the Act. However, no information has been publicly provided by the Registrar of the Lokayukta to the said letter, either in the form of a reply or information.
For the sake of transparent governance, it is a healthy and necessary step for the judges and government employees working in the Lokayukta to disclose the details of their assets.
I request the Karnataka State Government to amend the Act in the coming session to make it mandatory for the Lokayuktas, Upalokayuktas and employees working in the Karnataka Lokayukta to disclose their assets every year, Ramesh Babu has stated in the letter.