By IANS,
Shimla : Himachal Pradesh doesn’t believe in following any state for bringing an effective Lokayukta system in place and is working to bring a strong law in this regard, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said here Monday.
His assertion came in the wake of Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal’s criticism of the draft Himachal Pradesh Lokayukta Bill 2012 aimed at giving more power to the state’s ombudsman.
Kejriwal described the Himachal’s Lokayukta Bill as “very weak and ineffective” and also asked the state to follow the Uttarakhand system of Lokayukta.
“The government has tried to accommodate the views of Team Anna but now they are insisting on adopting the Uttarakhand model. We will again go through it (Uttarakhand Bill). But it’s strange to ask to adopt a model. We didn’t want to copy any state,” Dhumal told reporters.
He said the government is planning to introduce the Lokayukta Bill during the ongoing budget session of the assembly and get it passed.
The chief minister said the government had sent a draft to Team Anna members and they gave suggestions which “we tried to accommodate”.
“The government was planning to hold a meeting with Team Anna members but suddenly they started criticising the draft,” he said.
Team Anna has accused the state government of drafting a bill that “seeks to legitimise corruption rather than punish those responsible for it”.
Last month Kejriwal termed the state government’s Himachal Pradesh Public Services Guarantee Act of 2011 as “defunct as there is no independent mechanism to give justice to the applicants”.