Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Mar 11: The office and institution of Lokpal is fully functional and the rules have been notified.
This was disclosed by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
It was also stated that the President of India, on the recommendation of the duly constituted Selection Committee, appointed the Chairperson and eight Members of the Lokpal who assumed charge of their office on 23rd and 27th March 2019 respectively.
The Lokpal is an independent statutory body established under Section 3 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013. In terms of Section 48 of the said Act, the Lokpal is required to present annually to the President a report on the work done by it, which is to be laid in both the Houses of the Parliament.
However, since the Lokpal was operationalized at the fag end of March 2019, no such report has been submitted by the Lokpal, the reply stated. Hence, details of the cases registered and action taken thereon by the Lokpal are not available.
In a related subject, the Government today, through the Minister, informed that in exercise of the powers conferred by section 59 read with section 2(1) (e) of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, the Lokpal (Complaint) Rules, 2020 have been notified in Gazette of India on 2nd March 2020. The said rules are already in public domain, having been placed on the website of the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT).
The reply by Dr Jitendra Singh stated that the form for making a complaint has been devised keeping in view various provisions of the Act relating to processing of the complaints and the same is annexed to the rules.
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