Karnataka is planning to amend the Lokayukta Act along the lines of the Lokpal Bill proposed by the United Progressive Alliance government in 2013.
At the same time, it is on the hunt for a new lokayukta after Justice R Bhaskar Rao, the incumbent ombudsman, resigned following a recommendation by the state Assembly for an inquiry against him by a judicial committee of the Karnataka High Court.
Justice Rao's office was used by his son, Ashwin Rao, to allegedly run an extortion racket, say investigators. Though Justice Rao has not been named in the case, his son is in jail.
Karnataka Governor Vajubhai R Vala accepted Justice Rao's resignation within hours after he had tendered it, allowing him to save face from a judicial inquiry.
Justice Rao's exit is a relief for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who had selected him to head the institution in 2013 despite objections from the legal fraternity. Now, Siddaramaiah could well weaken the anti-corruption body with an amendment to the Act.
"The Lokpal is a 'jokepal' (as activist and lawyer Prashant Bhushan put it). The law should not be brought to Karnataka," Justice Santosh Hegde, a former lokayukta, said. "What is wrong with the present Act? Don't dilute it. It failed due to the man who did what he did for personal gain."
India's quest to build a strong anti-corruption body started within a decade of gaining independence. At that time, the administrative reforms commission scouted for best practices across the world and decided to replicate the ombudsman model of Scandinavian countries. A bill to enact the Lokpal was introduced in Parliament in 1966 and subsequently, an amended version in 1971.
In 1983, when the Janata Party won the Karnataka Assembly elections, one of the promises in its manifesto had been to build a strong anti-corruption body. Ramakrishna Hegde, a former mentor of Siddaramaiah before the latter allied with former chief minister H D Deve Gowda, introduced the Lokayukta Act and set the law in motion after the state Assembly had cleared it.
The institution was headed by eminent jurists, but when Justice N Venkatachala, a former Supreme Court judge, was appointed the lokayukta in 2001, the anti-corruption body got a public face.
Venkatachala endeared himself to the people by acting on complaints of corruption among government officials and launched investigations. He visited government hospitals and exposed corruption in the lower rungs. This gained the media's attention. His successor, Justice Santosh Hedge, followed in his footsteps. Justice Hedge's investigation into the mining scam indicted former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and his family for receiving kickbacks from miners. Subsequently, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader was jailed.
After Justice Santosh Hegde's retirement, Karnataka shortlisted Justice Shivaraj Patil for the post. Patil was appointed the lokayukta, but resigned following allegations of irregularities over land sites allocated to him and his wife.
In 2013, after a long search, Justice Rao was appointed the ombudsman. Soon after, his son, who had a criminal complaint lodged against him earlier, started visiting the Lokayukta office and gradually built a network to run an extortion racket.
Even as the charges emerged, Justice Rao stonewalled them before the upa lokayukta, Justice Subhash Adi, ordered an investigation into Justice Rao's son. Karnataka has a lokayukta and two deputies called upa lokayukta.
Interestingly, Justice Adi has had a run-in with the government. Last month, the Congress government in the state moved to impeach him on charges of encroaching on the powers of former upa lokayukta Justice S B Majage, who has, since, retired.
Justice Adi has responded to public complaints and addressed corruption charges against government officials. "The Chief Minister's Office should be interested in strengthening the institution of the Lokayukta and not demeaning it to serve a narrow agenda," Ramesh Shivaram, a petitioner, told Siddaramaiah in an open letter. "We hope that higher justice prevails and that you protect the reputation of one of our finer officers."
Under pressure from the public, which had launched a campaign, the government dropped the idea of impeaching Justice Adi.
Now, the state government is dragging its feet on the appointment of a new lokayukta. While Justice Rao allegedly undermined the institution, his exit has left the ombudsman headless and ineffective in taking up petitions of corruption in the government.
"Lokayukta is the last hope for many in the state who want to fight corruption," Justice Hegde said. "With this episode, they could lose confidence in the institution. I just hope the government doesn't dilute the institution. I hope it appoints a lokayukta, who is people-friendly and understands their concerns."
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