OMBUDSMAN

PRESENTED BY
R. THENDRALARASI, BA.LLM
ADVOCATE
 INTRODUCTION
• Ombudsman means a delegate, agent, officer or commissioner

• “An officer of parliament, having as his primary function, the duty of acting as an agent for
parliament, for the purpose of safeguarding the citizen against abuse or misuse of
administrative power by the executive “.

• In every progressive system of administration, there is need of a mechanism for handling

grievances against administrative fault, Ombudsman is one of such machinery.
• There is no means for handling grievance against misconduct,
inefficiency, delay, negligence, etc. against the officials.

• It was felt necessary to have alternative or additional institution to

control wrong decision, maladministration or corruption of public
officials.
ORIGIN OF OMBUDSMAN
• Introduced in Sweden by King Charles XII on 18th century in 1809.
• Finland in 1919
• Denmark in 1953
• Norway in 1963
• New Zealand in 1962
• US 1960
• UK 1967.
MEANING OF OMBUDSMAN
• “Grievance man”

• “Commissioner of administration “

• Ombudsman is an appointed official whose duty is to investigate

complaints, generally on behalf of individuals such as consumers or
taxpayers, against Institutions such as companies and government
departments.
GARNER’ S DEFINITION OF
OMBUDSMAN
• He is an officer of parliament having as his primary function,
the duty of acting as an agent for the parliament for the purpose
of safeguarding the citizen against abuse or misuse of
administrative power by the executive.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
OMBUDSMAN
• Independence

• Impartiality and fairness

• Credibility

• Confidentiality
 IMPORTANCE/NEED OF
OMBUDSMAN
A) Ombudsman is a watchdog
• Ombudsman inquires and investigates all complaints made by the citizen against
the abuse of discretionary power, mal administration inefficiency and take
appropriate actions for that purpose very wide power has been given to him.
• He has access to departmental files.
• He can act even Suo-moto.
• These power are not limited like the powers of civil court.
 B) NATURE/STATUS
• Ombudsman is judge or lawyer or a high officer and his character,
reputation and integrity are above board
• He is appointed by the parliament
• He makes his own recommendation to eliminate the cause of
complaints.
• Ombudsman is thus a strong position to redress individual
grievances arising out of bad administration
 WHAT ARE LOKPAL AND
LOKAYUKTA?
• The word "Lokpal" is derived from the sanskrit word "loka" meaning people
and "pala" meaning protector or caretaker.
• Together it means "protector of people".
• The term lokpal and lokayukta were coined by Dr. L.M.Singhvi
• The aim of passing such a law is it to eradicate corruption at all levels of the
Indian polity.
THE LOKPAL AND LOKAYUKTA
ACT, 2013
• It provided for the establishment of Lokpal forthe Union and Lokayukta for
States.

• These institutions are statutory bodies without any constitutional status

• They perform the function of an "ombudsman” and inquire into allegations

ofcorruption against certain public functionaries and for related matters
"INDIA AGAINST CORRUPTION
MOVEMENT"
• It led by Anna Hazare put pressure on the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre and resulted in the
passing of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2013, in both the
Houses of Parliament.
• It received assent from President on 1 January 2014 and came
into force on 16 January 2014
SALIENT FEATURES OF THE LOKPAL AND
LOKAYUKTAS ACT, 2013

• The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 provided for Lokpal at the centre having
jurisdiction of trying cases of corruption against all Members of Parliament and
central government employees.

• The Lokayuktas have functions similar to the Lokpal, but they function on a
state level.

• The office of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas deals with charges of corruption
against any public official and includes the office of the prime minister of the
court but with reasonable safeguards.
• Both the Lokpal and the Lokayukta deal with charges of
corruption against the government and its employees, in fact they
even conduct investigations and based on the findings from such
investigations they conduct trials.
• The act lays down the provision to set up a Lokayukta and its set
of powers for each state without clearly defining the extent of the
same, this has led to various different Lokayuktas being setup,
some with more power than the others.
• In order to create uniformity a proposal to implement the
Lokayukta uniformly across Indian states has been made.
• The Act provides that all states set up office of the Lokpal and/or Lokayukta
within one year from the commencement of the said Act.
• On the other hand, Lokpal will consist of a chairperson and a maximum of eight
members, of which 50% will be judicial members, 50% members of Lokpal
shall be from SC/ST/OBCs, minorities and women.

• The newly enacted Lokpal Act provides for confiscation and attachment of any
property of any government official which he or she has come to own through
corrupt practices and the same can be done during pendency of proceedings
against the said official.

• The Lokpal Act mandates that all public officials should furnish the assets and
liabilities of themselves as well as their respective dependents.
THE LOKPAL AND LOKAYUKTAS
(AMENDMENT) BILL, 2016
• It enables the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha to
bea member of the selection committee in the absence of a recognized Leader
of Opposition.
• It also amended section 44 of the 2013 Act that deals with the provision of
furnishingof details of assets and liabilities of public servants when they
joining in the government service
• The Bill replaces the time limit of 30 days, now the public servants will make
a declaration of their assets and liabilities in the form and manner as prescribed
by thegovernment.
STRUCTURE OF LOKPAL
• Lokpal is a multi-member body, that consists of one chairperson and a
maximum of 8 members.
• Chairperson of the Lokpal should be either the former Chief Justice of India or
the former Judge of Supreme Court or an eminent person with impeccable
integrity and outstanding ability, having special knowledge and expertise of
minimum 25 years in the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public
administration, vigilance, financeincluding insurance and banking, law and
management.
• Out of the maximum eight members, half will be judicial members and
minimum 50% of the Members will be from SC/ ST/ OBC/ Minorities and
women
• The judicial member of the Lokpal either a former Judge of the Supreme
Court or aformer Chief Justice of a High Court.
• The non-judicial member should be an eminent person with impeccable
integrity andoutstanding ability, having special knowledge and expertise of
minimum 25 years in the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public
administration, vigilance, finance including insurance and banking, law and
management.

• TERM - Lokpal Chairman and Members is 5 years or till the age of 70

years.

• The members are appointed by the president on the recommendation of a

Selection Committee
• THE SELECTION COMMITTEE – It is composed of the
Prime Minister who is the Chairperson; Speaker of Lok Sabha,
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of India or a
Judge nominated by him/her and One eminent jurist

• For selecting the chairperson and the members, the selection

committee constitutes a search panel of at least eight persons
LOKPAL JURISDICTION AND
POWERS
• Jurisdiction of the Lokpal included the Prime Minister except on allegations of
corruption relating to international relations, security, the public order, atomic
energy and space.
• The Lokpal does not have jurisdiction over Ministers and MPs in the matter of
anything said in Parliament or a vote given there.
• Its jurisdiction also includes any person who is or has been in charge (director/
manager/ secretary) of anybody/ society set up by central act or any other body
financed/ controlled by central government and any other person involved in act
of abetting, bribe giving or bribe taking.
• The Lokpal Act mandates that all public officials should furnish the assets and
liabilities of themselves as well as their respective dependents
• It has the powers to superintendence over, and to give direction to CBI.
• If Lokpal has referred a case to CBI, the investigating officer in such case
cannot be transferred without the approval of Lokpal
• The Inquiry Wing of the Lokpal has been vested with the powers of a civil
court. Lokpal has powers of confiscation of assets, proceeds, receipts and
benefits arisen or procured by means of corruption in special circumstances
• Lokpal has the power to recommend transfer or suspension of public servant
connected with allegation of corruption
 LIMITATIONS
• The institution of lokpal has tried to bring a much needed change in the battle
against corruption in the administrative structure of India but at the same time,
there are loopholes and lacunae which need to be corrected

• The Lokpal act also called upon states to appoint a Lokayukta within a year of
its coming to force.
• Lokpal is not free from political influence as the appointing committee itself
consistof members from political parties
• The appointment of Lokpal can be manipulated in a way as there is no
criterion todecide who is an ‘eminent jurist’ or ‘a person of integrity
• The 2013 act did not provide concrete immunity to the whistle blowers. The
provision for initiation of inquiry against the complainant if the accused is
foundinnocent will only discourage people from complaining
• The biggest lacuna is the exclusion of judiciary from the ambit of the Lokpal.
The Lokpal is not given any constitutional backing and there is no adequate
provision for appeal against the Lokpal
• The specific details in relation to the appointment of Lokayukta have been
left completely on the States.

• To some extent, the need for functional independence of the CBI has been
catered to by a change brought forth in the selection process of its Director,
by this Act.

• The complaint against corruption cannot be registered after a period of seven

years from the date on which the offence mentioned in such complaint is
alleged to have been committed.
 CONCLUSION
• The institution of lokpal has been a land mark move in the history of Indian polity, The
lokpal and lokayukta act 2013 has offered a productive solution to combat the never ending
menace of corruption.

• The institution of lokpal has tried to bring a much needed change in the battle against
corruption in the administrative structure of India but at the same time there are loopholes
and lacunae which need to be corrected

• Firstly it is not free from political influence as the appointing committee itself consist of
parliamentarians
• There is no criteria to decide who is an eminent jurist or a person of integrity.
• The biggest lacuna is the exclusion of judiciary from the ambit of the Lokpal
• The Lokpal is also not given a constitutional backing.
• There are no adequate provisions for appeal against the Lokpal.
• The powers, composition and scope of Lokayuktas do not find any mention of
the act.
• There is a long way to go to ensure transparency and crusade against
corruption are still on and yet to reach its destination.
SUGGESTIONS
• In order to tackle the problem of corruption, the institution of the
ombudsman should be strengthened both in terms of functional autonomy
and availability ofmanpower

• Greater transparency, more right to information and empowerment of

citizens and citizen groups is required along with a good leadership that is
willing to subject itself to public scrutiny

• Appointment of Lokpal in itself is not enough. The government should address

theissues based on which people are demanding a Lokpal.
• Merely adding to the strength of investigative agencies will increase the size of
the government but not necessarily improve governance.
• The slogan adopted by the government of “less government and more
governance”, should be followed in letter and spirit.
• Moreover, Lokpal and Lokayukta must be financially, administratively and
legally independent of those whom they are called upon to investigate and
prosecute.
• Lokpal and Lokayukta appointments must be done transparently so as to
minimize the chances of the wrong sorts of people getting in.
• There is a need for a multiplicity of decentralized institutions with appropriate
accountability mechanisms, to avoid the concentration of too much power, in
any oneinstitution or authority
THANK Y OU ALL