Delhi LG flags 'inordinate delay' in receiving Lokayukta reports from AAP govt

New Delhi, Oct 21: Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has flagged an "inordinate delay" of three years in submission of Lokayukta reports by the city government which highlight the issues faced by the anti-corruption ombudsman in terms independence, lack of powers, financial autonomy.

Saxena has written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the matter.

"I would like to advise that the minister concerned may please be guided appropriately to dispose such important matters of public interest within reasonable period, so that the statutory purpose of laying it before the legislative assembly is not defeated and Delhi is not deprived of its wisdom," the lieutenant governor (L-G) said in his letter.

Saxena received the 16th and the 17th annual consolidated reports of the Lokayukta of Delhi, pertaining to 2017-18 and 2018-19, "after a delay of three years from Kejriwal" and has approved the laying of the reports before the Delhi assembly, L-G office sources said on Friday.

While approving the reports, "he flagged the inordinate delay of three years" and "instead of laying down these reports before the legislative assembly, so that they are debated for further strengthening the system of Lokayukta, it (the delay) has deprived the assembly from taking cognisance of these important reports which deal with matters of corruption, abuse or misuse of position in cases of public functionaries", a source said.

Reacting to the issue, the Delhi government in a statement said, "The L-G should stop behaving like a school headmaster."

In his letter, the L-G has asked Kejriwal to recall that even on "earlier occasion, such delays were brought to the chief minister's notice and subsequently, the matter was placed in the assembly".
Saxena also pointed out that "being the custodian of public trust, it is the incumbent upon higher public functionaries to display appropriate alertness in such matters of public importance".

The L-G has approved laying of the 16th and the 17th annual reports of the Lokayukta of Delhi in the assembly.

The reports highlighting various "constraints" being faced by the Lokayukta in terms of its "independence", "lack of powers", "compromised financial autonomy", "non-availability of any machinery for conducting investigations" and "limited jurisdiction", among others, were first submitted to the L-G on October 1, 2019, the sources said.

On October 23, 2019, the then L-G had sent reports to the chief secretary for an explanation of the government on the points raised by the Lokayukta.

The administrative reforms department took about an year in preparing the explanatory memorandum of the Delhi government on the reports and submitted it to the minister in-charge on September 22, 2020. The minister finally submitted the reports to the chief minister after a gap of two years on September 19, 2022.

The reports finally reached the L-G from the chief minister's office on September 27, 2022. "The reasons for this inexplicable and unjustified inordinate delay of three years were nowhere to be found on file," the source said.