The new bill replaces Uttarakhand Lokayukta
Act passed by the state assembly during the previous BJP government headed by
Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri. As the bill was
passed through voting, BJP MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Ajay Bhatt, staged
a walkout raising questions on the justification of the legislation when
Uttarakhand Lokayukta Act passed by the House during Khanduri's tenure had
already become an Act after getting Presidential assent in September last year.
Bhatt said the earlier bill could have been an effective anti-corruption
instrument and there was no need for an entirely new legislation to replace it.
According to the new Lokayukta Bill, the
Lokayukta will be created in the state and headed by a practising or retired
judge or Chief Justice of the High Court. Besides the head, there will be four members
on the panel out of which 50 percent will be from the judiciary and 50 percent
from SC/ST/OBC, minorities or women. As
per provisions of the legislation, no member of a legislature of any other
state or Union territory can be a member of the Lokayukta body. The head of the Lokayukta and its members will
be appointed by a five-member selection committee headed by the Chief Minister.
The bill had been tabled in the House on
Monday by Parliamentary Affairs minister Indira Hridayesh.
Before the bill was passed by voice vote,
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said that it had been drafted keeping
in mind anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare's vision of the Lokpal. Noting that BJP had supported the Lokpal in
Parliament, Bahuguna said that it should also back the legislation in the state
Assembly.