BJP demands appointment of Lokayukta in Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu, Dec 16: BJP on Tuesday demanded that the Jammu and Kashmir government take urgent steps to appoint a Lokayukta in the state.

"The state coalition government should bring in a legislation in the next Assembly session to appoint Lokayukta," BJP leader Jitendra Singh told reporters here. Singh said Parliament was almost unanimous on Lokpal bill and National Conference was also supporting it, which made it a "strange contradiction" that the same NC-led government found no need to appoint a Lokayukta in Jammu and Kashmir.

Singh said it was already too late considering the fact that most of the leading states already have a Lokayukta. Maharashtra was the first state to introduce Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act way back in 1971, he said, adding that similar Acts have subsequently been enacted by Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Delhi and Goa.

'NC led govt in Jammu found no need to appoint a Lokayukta'

He accused certain Ministers of issuing misleading statements that legislation for Lokayukta could not be introduced in Jammu and Kashmir because of Article 370. "This is not true," he said, adding that as per the Constitution, the 'Lokayukta' provision can be brought in "notwithstanding any other provision" and this implies "notwithstanding Article 370" as well.

Singh said the NC-led government had claimed that there was no need for special laws like Lokayukta in J&K as the state already had such provisions, but it was only trying to to escape from responsibility to fight corruption. The State Accountability Commission and State Vigilance Organisation have failed to make any perceptible impact, the BJP leader claimed.

Several officers facing serious charges of corruption continue to enjoy lucrative postings, he claimed, appealing to the government to bring in the legislation to appoint Lokayukta soon.

PTI