No power to act against corrupt: UP Lokayukta/Maya govt exploiting ‘weakness’, says Mehrotra

No power to act against corrupt: UP Lokayukta

Lucknow, Dec 18, DHNS

Maya govt exploiting ‘weakness’, says Mehrotra

No steps were taken to seize public properties grabbed illegally by them either, he said.
Mehrotra said all public servants, from village ‘pradhans’ to the prime minister, should be brought under the purview of the Lokpal.

The Lokayukta said he did not have the power to prosecute the erring ministers and other public representatives.

“The Mayawati government is taking advantage of this weakness,” he said. “If the Lokayukta had powers along the lines of Karnataka, these ministers would have been in jail,” he said.

He pointed out that many of the ministers had grabbed public lands. The government should have launched legal proceedings to recover properties, but it had not done so.
Mehrotra said he was currently probing charges of corruption and criminal activities against as many as 22 ministers, 28 members of the state Assembly, and 36 chairpersons of different municipalities.

A majority of the MLAs belonged to the Bahujan Samaj Party, he added. The Lokayukta said Uttar Pradesh was neck deep in corruption. “Even the education department is corrupt...bribes exchange hands in admission and results. One can imagine the future of children under such circumstances,” Mehrotra said.

The Lokayukta said even village pradhans should be under the Lokpal’s purview. “Pradhans amass huge wealth during their tenure...they travel in luxury cars. Where do they get money from to buy such vehicles,” he asked.

“Pradhans exercise control over several welfare schemes meant for villagers,” he said.
Mehrotra, however, differed with anti-graft activist Anna Hazare on bringing ‘C’ and ‘D’ group government employees under the Lokpal saying it would result in too much burden on the ombudsman.