Lokpal gets its website; govt to soon notify format for filing complaint
16 May 2019
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Lokpal chairperson Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose today inaugurated the Lokpal website in the presence of all eight members of the anti-corruption watchdog today.
The Website, developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC), provides the basic information with respect to the working and functioning of the Lokpal. The Website can be accessed at http://lokpal.gov.in.
Lokpal is the first institution of its kind in independent India, established under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 to inquire and investigate into allegations of the corruption against public functionaries who fall within the scope and ambit of the above Act.
The government appointed Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose as the first chairperson of the Lokpal who was administered oath on 23 March 2019 by the President of India. The government also appointed four judicial and four non-judicial members.
The office of Lokpal is temporary functioning from Hotel Ashok, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.
The process of notifying the rules and regulations including the format for receiving complaints is being developed. All complaints which were received till 16 April 2019 have been examined by the office of Lokpal and disposed of accordingly. The complaints received thereafter are under examination, an official release stated.
As per norms, a complaint shall be filed in the prescribed form to be notified by the government. The central government will soon come out with a format for lodging a complaint with anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal, officials said on Thursday.
"The form will be made public soon," a senior Personnel Ministry official said.
Although the form for filing a complaint has not yet been notified, Lokpal decided to scrutinise all the complaints received in its the office till April 16, 2019, in whatever form they were sent, according to the anti-corruption ombudsman's website which was inaugurated Thursday.
"After scrutiny, complaints that did not fall within the mandate of the Lokpal were disposed of and complainants are being informed accordingly," it said, without giving details of the complaints.
Justice Ghose, 66, retired as the Supreme Court judge in May 2017. He had last served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The Lokpal's eight members were administered the oath by Justice Ghose on 27 March.
Former chief justices of different high courts - justices Dilip B Bhosale, Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Abhilasha Kumari and Ajay Kumar Tripathi -- had taken oath as judicial members of the Lokpal.
Former first woman chief of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Archana Ramasundaram, ex-Maharashtra chief secretary Dinesh Kumar Jain, former IRS officer Mahender Singh and Gujarat cadre ex-IAS officer Indrajeet Prasad Gautam were sworn-in as the Lokpal's non-judicial members.
According to the rules, there is a provision for a chairperson and a maximum of eight members in the Lokpal panel. Of these, four need to be judicial members.
The Lokpal Act, which envisages appointment of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.
