Karnataka Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde on Tuesday slammed the Lokpal Bill adopted by the Union Cabinet, saying India’s financial growth will “drown” in corruption if it remains unchecked.
The former SC judge, who was a member of the joint drafting committee on Lokpal, expressed his personal view that the Bill will be “toothless, ineffective” and have no powers to nail the corrupt. “If the CAG report on the 2G is true... `1,76,000 crores... What will happen to this country? Entire financial growth will drown in corruption,” an anguished Mr Hegde, who retired as the Lokayukta on Tuesday, said.
Mr Hegde then sought to compare the corruption magnitude in the 1950s and 1960s, and in 2000s and pointed to “increase in the number of zeros (manifold increase in corruption)”.
Referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement on “zero tolerance to corruption”, he virtually sought to mock it, saying, “I counted the words. We have already fulfilled three (words)... Tolerance to corruption”.
“We have tolerance to corruption, tolerance to zero and not corruption,” he lamented. Mr Hegde said the Prime Minister has done a U-turn when he stated that the inclusion of his post in the Lokpal was not advisable. “That’s a U-turn. He had said earlier he has no difficulty coming under the Lokpal. The bill prepared by the government in 2010 included the Prime Minister,” he said.
Mr Hegde said the Lokpal Bill, adopted by the Cabinet, “does not have any investigating agency”, and added that the CBI’s anti-corruption wing should have been transferred to the Lokpal. —PTI