Lokayukta Santosh Hegde disillusions masses

The lacklustre and totally unimpressive performance of the institution of Lokayukta ever since Justice Santosh Hegde took charge as the new Lokayukta chief, has given rise to the question as to whether justice Hegde who retired after being a very good, able and efficient Supreme Court judge, had erred by agreeing to be the Lokayukta.
Today the general feeling is that Justice Hegde has not been able to fill the void created in the Lokayukta after the retirement of Justice Venkatachala as its chief. When compared the pro-active style of functioning of the erstwhile Lokayukta , Justice Hegde’s style is far from satisfactory. This in turn has proved to be a matter of greathappiness for the corrupt bureaucracy. The expectations of the people from Justice Hegde that he would weed out corruption that has made deep inroads into our administrative machinery, by continuing the historic works undertaken by Justice Venkatachala, will never be realised when considered from any angle.
Even if we are liberal enough to conclude that the style of functioning of different people are different, the style of functioning of Justice Hegde does not befit that of the institution of the Lokayukta. Justice Hegde who on knowing public opinoon about him through the media, should have at least tried to live upto the expectations of the masses.
The reality is that Justice Hegde is a much softer personality for the Lokayukta post which requires him to do police work of tracing thieves.
There is no denying that he has done his job well as a Supreme Court Judge. But definitely a scholarly man like Hegde may not be able to trap the thick skinned people who are practising corruption in our government offices.
Compared to Justice Venkatachala who used to trap corrupt government staff red handed and then parade them before television cameras, the academic jugglary of Santosh Hegde in conducting an enquiry after accepting petitions from public in government offices, can no where be effective to root out the menace.
The present style of functioning of Justice Hegde can never free our state from the tag of being the number one corrupt state in the whole of the nation.
The institution of Lokayukta can achieve just nothing, unless and until the trapped corrupt officials are interrogated on the spot and are given suspension order on the spot or within a week or two. Prior to Justice Hegde’s appointment as Lokayukta, chief minister Kumaraswamy, on the proposal to delegate more powers to the Lokayukta had said ‘ why are we present if all powers are delegated to the Lokayukta ?’ This answer revealed his wish to shield corrupt officials. The chief minister will surely not agree with Justice Hegde’s request to delegate more powers to the Lokayukta to ensure early legal action against corrupt officials. The chief minister only wanted a Lokayukta chief who would break his head over rules and procedures and would not cross the Lakshman Rekha drawn by him. Thus Justice Hegde has lived upto his expectations.
Therefre, it can very well be construed that the chief minister is happy with Santosh Hegde. Even Justice Hegde might be indebted to the state government for offering him a plump post after retirement.
The Lokayukta and the deputy Lokayukta should continue raids on government offices and should announce action against corrupt officials who are trapped red handed. This is the request of the people to Justice Hegde. If Hegde fails to do this work, then his continuing in the post would serve no purpose.
Hegde who only reiterates the already known fact that there is a need for public awareness to root out corruption, has said that he aims at enlightening the youngsters tin schools and colleges on the evil of corruption.
Through his statement, Hegde has made clear that he has in his mind the agenda of lecturing on corruption in educational institutions.
Therefore, it would be better for the government to depute him as lecturer of corruption and dissolve the Lokayukta or else appoint someone of the calibre and capacity of Venkatachala to the post.
If the government fails to delegate more powers to the Lokayukta, then the very presence of the Lokayukta would be useless as it would be merely a body that would be a burden on the state exchequer. Let the government take steps at the earliest to appoint the right man for the Lokayukta.

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