The Madras High Court has held that the Lokayukta cannot refuse to entertain complaints of corruption levelled against Ministers and other public servants by misapplying certain exceptions provided under Section 13 of the Tamil Nadu Lokayukta Act, 2018, with respect to matters that are not subject to inquiry.
The observation was made while allowing a writ petition filed by K.R. Jeyagopi in 2022 against the Lokayukta refusing to entertain his complaint alleging corruption in the procurement of Pongal gift hampers distributed to 2.15 crore ration card holders through the Public Distribution System (PDS) at an outlay of ₹1,296.88 crore.
Justice N. Seshasayee set aside an order passed by the Lokayukta on March 2, 2022, which refused to entertain the writ petitioner’s complaint, and remanded the matter to the anti-corruption body for it to revisit the decision in view of the observations made by the court.
The judge pointed out that the Preamble of the Act itself makes it clear that the primary objective behind the establishment of the Lokayukta was to inquire into allegations of corruption. “Lokayukta, a statutory watchdog, is mandated to inquire into any complaint alleging corruption,” the Justice said.
Justice Seshasayee said in writing, “Where the allegations do not strictly fall within Section 13(1) of the Act, then the Lokayukta may not have too many options but to resort to the inevitable course of ordering an inquiry under Section 19 lest the objective behind constituting a Lokayukta will be in serious peril.”
“The standard of scrutiny required by the Lokayukta while examining a complaint is no greater than ascertaining whether the allegations made in the complaint prima facie disclose any act constituting, abetting or conspiring to commit corruption; it includes any improper administrative decision involving or abetting corruption or any conspiracy,” the Judge said.
According to Section 12 of the Act, the Lokayukta has the jurisdiction to inquire into any allegations of corruption levelled against Ministers, former Ministers and government employees. Certain exemptions are made in instances such as administrative action taken in matters that arise out of the terms of a contract governing purely commercial relations.
As per Section 19, the Lokayukta could order an inquiry either through its inquiry wing or any agency of the government or the vigilance commission. However, before it decides to close a complaint, the Lokayukta must make certain that the allegations fall squarely within the exceptions under Section 13 (1).
The Judge concurred with senior counsel V. Raghavachari, who was representing the writ petitioner, about the complaint making a prima facie case against the public servants. “This court has least hesitation in holding that the order of the Lokayukta cannot be sustained since it has misapplied Sec.13 (1) (c) of the Act,” he said.
