DIMAPUR, March 24 - Coinciding with the Supreme Court directive to 11 States, Nagaland Governor PB Acharya gave his assent to the Nagaland Lokayukta Bill 2017 on Friday.
The Supreme Court on Friday had directed Chief Secretaries of 11 States to explain the five-year delay in appointment of anti-corruption ombudsmen Lokayukta and Uplokayukta. The 11 States include Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal.
A Bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi found that several States have not made any move to appoint Lokayuktas despite the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act coming into existence in 2013.
The Nagaland Lokayukta Bill 2015 was tabled by former Chief Minister TR Zeliang in the 12th Nagaland Assembly on July 21, 2015. The House passed the Bill with amendments on December 15, 2017.
Meanwhile, the Governor also gave his assent to the Nagaland Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1978 (First Amendment) Bill, 2017 along with the Nagaland Lokayukta Bill.
The Nagaland Lokayukta Bill 2015 was passed with amendment due to relentless pressure from two organisations called Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation Nagaland and Public Service Aspirants of Nagaland. The two organisations had also formed a public coordination committee to pressurize the State Government on the issue.
The Lokayukta is an ombudsman body to check corruption allegations against administrators and legislators. The Lokayukta Act comes under Section 63 of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013 (Act No.1) of 2014, which makes provision for establishment of Lokayukta for the States to probe allegations of corruption against certain public functionaries.
