JOIN USThe Advocates’ Association Bengaluru has filed a PIL questioning the formation of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). It has sought directions for quashing the government notification dated March 19, 2016 wherein the Lokayukta police wing’s powers to investigate will be superseded by deputy superintendent’s of police. The association, in its PIL, said that the Karnataka Lokayukta is a creation of the state legislature and has been constituted for a specific purpose. This is broadly to review the state’s actions and to curb corruption and nepotism. Creation of the ACB would virtually defeat the very purpose for which the Lokayukta is constituted and will result in the creation of a parallel body through an executive notification to achieve the same purpose with lesser intent, the PIL states.
ACB empowers the chief minister to veto investigation or the sanction of investigation. This in itself defeats the very purpose of the anti-corruption drive, the PIL states. The Dy SP of the ACB being a Class I officer, works under the authority of the chief minister and any independent investigation is only a mirage, it adds. The ACB is virtually in the nature of a ‘kid glove boxer’ to the corrupt administration and is constituted to defeat the purpose of the Prevention of Corruption Act itself, the PIL states. The court is yet to hear the PIL.