Justice Banerjea was part of the seven-member team of Lokayuktas that had given a presentation on the Lokpal B... Read More

(This story originally appeared in on Jul 28, 2018)

KOLKATA: A day after the West Bengal Legislative Assembly passed amendments to the state’s Lokayukta Act , Justice Samaresh Banerjea , the first and only Lokayukta of the state, criticised the Mamata Banerjee government saying the changes have “weakened the Act, instead of strengthening it”.

The West Bengal Lokayukta Bill was enacted by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government in 2003. Fifteen years later, on Thursday, the state Assembly passed the West Bengal Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2018, taking the chief minister out of the purview of an investigation by the Lokayukta and making the state government's approval mandatory for a probe against any official. In an interaction with ET on Friday, Banerjea said the state government has “curtailed the power of Lokayukta”.

“At one hand the government is giving you a right-- to raise your voice, right to complaint--and on the other, it is snatching your right. You cannot think of a thriving democracy, if there is no strong Lokayukta,” Banerjea said.

Justice Banerjea was part of the seven-member team of Lokayuktas that had given a presentation on the Lokpal Bill before former prime minister Manmohan Singh and participated in the process of drafting. “We met prime minister Manmohan Singh and we urged him to include the prime minister in the Lokpal Act.

The former PM told us that he had no problem in being included in the Act. However, it was the discretion of the Union home ministry. Eventually, the PM was kept out of the Act’s ambit,” said Banerjea.

Justice Banerjea was appointed Lokayukta in 2006, three years of the Act came into effect. His term ended in 2009. Since then, there has been no fresh appointment. In fact, Justice Banerjea had to work from his residence for a year and half, after which he was allotted an office. “I could operate from office for a year and half only, and in these years I received more than 200 complaints.

So, I must say that having a strong Lokayukta depends on the political will of ruling parties,” he said.

