The state Cabinet today decided to bring all the elected representatives of local bodies and officers of all the government organisations under the purview of Lok Ayukta by amending the Act enacted in 1983.
According to the present provisions of the Act, only those officers with a pay scale of Rs 7,400 and above come under the scanner of Lok Ayukta. The government proposes to bring changes in the existing Act to widen the scope of Lok Ayukta to investigate any complaints against elected representatives of local bodies and other officers irrespective of their pay scale.
The Cabinet also decided to introduce a new Bill pertaining to the rights of tenant farmers, especially for enabling them to avail of farm credit and other government benefits on the land. Due to the absence of any laws in this regard, the tenant farmers are being denied farm credit, input subsidy and other benefits from the banks and other government agencies. To be introduced in the ongoing Assembly session, the Andhra Pradesh Land Licensed Cultivators Act-2011 will envisage providing loan eligibility cards to tenant farmers and offer them to access institutional loans, crop insurance, farm inputs and input subsidy among others.