ITANAGAR, June 27 - Justice Prasanta Kumar Saikia, retired judge of the Gauhati High Court, was sworn in as the first chairperson of the Arunachal Pradesh Lokayukta today. Retired IAS officer Yeshi Tsering was sworn in as a member of the Lokayukta.
State Governor Brig (Dr) BD Mishra (retd) administered the oath of office to the newly-appointed Lokayukta chairperson and the member in a brief function at the Durbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan here this morning.
Talking to reporters after his swearing-in ceremony, Justice Saikia said, �Our duty is to fight against corruption so that we can establish a corruption-free society sooner than later.�
While pointing out that �corruption is the mother of all maladies� in the society, Justice Saikia said with the strong will of the Government, a very effective legislation supported by an ever alert public would make it easy to fight the war against corruption. He added that the enactment of the Arunachal Pradesh Lokayukta Act is a positive step in the right direction.
�As a team, we will work as per the mandate of the Act and I am sure that the first Lokayukta will bring some deterrent so that the menace of corruption is minimised,� said Tsering, former Chief Secretary of Meghalaya.
There has been much delay in constitution of the anti-graft body in Arunachal Pradesh since the Bill to constitute the Lokayukta was passed by the State Assembly in March, 2014.
While candidly acknowledging that Arunachal Pradesh had earned a �bad name� for corruption in the absence of the anti-graft body in the State, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said with the formation of the Lokayukta, corruption would be checked in the State in the days to come.
The Chief Minister sent out a clear message to all elected representatives and government employees: �You are in the position to serve the public, so do not think of misusing it.�
Besides Khandu, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, Home Minister Bamang Felix, other Cabinet ministers, former Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and senior State Government officers were present on the occasion.
