Political Career for Indian Youth-Draft Jan Lokpal Bill -part 8

Draft Jan Lokpal Bill -part 8

27. Protection- (1) No suit, prosecution, or other legal proceedings shall lie against the Chairperson or members or against any officer, employee, agency or person referred to in Section 14(4) in respect of anything which is in good faith done while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duties under this Act.
(2) No proceedings of the Lokpal shall be held to be bad for want of form and except on the ground of jurisdiction, no proceedings or decision of the Lokpal shall be liable to be challenged, reviewed, quashed or called in question in any court of ordinary Civil Jurisdiction.
Miscellaneous
28. Public Servants to submit property statements-
(1) Every public servant, other than those mentioned in Section 2(12)(a) to (c), shall within three months after the commencement of this Act and thereafter before the 30th June of every year submit to the head of that public authority, in the form prescribed by Lokpal, a statement of his assets and liabilities and those of the members of his family. Public servants mentioned in sections 2(12)(a) to (c) shall submit their returns in a format prescribed by the Lokpal, which shall include their sources of incomes, to the Lokpal with the aforesaid time lines.
(2) The Head of each public authority shall ensure that all such statements are put on the website by 31st August of that year.
(3) If no such statement is received by the Head of that public authority from any such public servant within the time specified in sub-section (1), the Head of that public authority shall direct the concerned public servant to do so immediately. If within next one month, the public servant concerned does not submit such statement, the Head shall stop the salary and allowances of that public servant till he submits such statement.
Explanation- In this section “family of a public servant” means the spouse and such children and parents of the public servant as are dependent on him.
(4) The Lokpal may initiate prosecution against such public servant under Section 176 IPC.
28A. Properties deemed to have been obtained through corrupt means: (1) If any property, moveable or immoveable, is subsequently found to be owned by the public servant or any of his family members, which had not been declared under this section by that public servant and which was acquired before filing of last return under this section, the same shall be deemed to have been obtained through corrupt means.
(2) If any property, moveable or immoveable, is subsequently found to be in possession of the public servant or any of his family members, which had not been declared under this section by that public servant, the same shall be deemed to be owned by that public servant and the same shall be deemed to have been acquired through corrupt means by that public servant, the onus of proving otherwise shall be on the public servant.
(3) The public servant shall be given an opportunity to explain, within 15 days,
(a) in the case of properties under sub-section (1) of this section, whether he had disclosed that property in any of the earlier years.
(b) in the case of properties under sub-section (2) of this section, to explain why these properties should not be deemed to be owned by the public servant.
(4) If public servant fails to provide satisfactory reply under sub-section (3) of this section with respect to some properties, Lokpal shall immediately confiscate all such properties.
(5) Transfer of those properties for which notices are issued under sub-section (3) of this section, shall be deemed to be null and void after the date of issue of such notices.
(6) Lokpal shall intimate such information to the Income Tax Department for appropriate action.
(7) Appeal against the orders of Lokpal shall lie in High Court of appropriate jurisdiction, which shall decide the matter within three months of filing of the appeal.
Provided that no appeal shall be entertained after expiry of 30 days from the date of order of Lokpal under sub-section (4).
(8) All properties confiscated under this section shall be auctioned to highest bidder. Half of the proceeds from the same shall be deposited by the Lokpal in Consolidated Fund of India. The balance amount could be used by Lokpal for its own administration.
Provided that if an appeal has been filed in any case, the auction shall not take place till the disposal of appeal.
28B. (1) Within three months after the conclusion of any elections to the Parliament, the Lokpal shall compare the property statements filed by the candidates with Election Commission of India with their sources of income available with Income Tax Department. In such cases where assets are found to be more than known sources of income, it shall initiate appropriate proceedings.
(2) For an allegation against a Member of Parliament that he has taken a bribe for any conduct in Parliament, including voting in Parliament or raising question in Parliament or any other matter, a complaint could be made to the Speaker of Lok Sabha or the Chairperson of Rajya Sabha, depending upon the House to which that member belongs. Such complaints shall be dealt in the following manner:
(a) The complaint shall be forwarded to the Ethics Committee within a month of its receipt.
(b) The Ethics Committee shall, within a month, decide whether to
29. Power to delegate and assign functions: (1) Lokpal shall be competent to delegate its powers and assign functions to the officials working in Lokpal.
(2) All functions carried out and powers exercised by such officials shall be deemed to have been so done by the Lokpal.
Provided that the following functions shall be performed by the benches and cannot be delegated:
(i) Granting permission to initiate prosecution in any case.
(ii) Order for dismissal of any government servant under CCS Conduct Rules.
(iii) Passing orders under section 10 on complaints against officials and staff of Lokpal.
(iv) Pass orders in cases of complaints, other than grievances, against officers of the level of Joint Secretary and above.
30. Time limits: (1) Preliminary enquiry under sub-section (1) of section 9 of this Act should be completed within a month of receipt of complaint.
Provided that the enquiry officer shall be liable for an explanation if the enquiry is not completed within this time limit.
(2) Investigation into any allegation shall be completed within six months, and in any case, not more than one year, from the date of receipt of complaint.
(3) Trial in any case filed by Lokpal should be completed within one year. Adjournments should be granted in rarest circumstances.
30A. Transparency and application of Right to Information Act: (1) Lokpal shall make every effort to put every information on its website.
(2) Once investigation or enquiry is complete in any case, all records related to that case shall be available for public scrutiny. Lokpal shall preferably post all such records on its website.
Provided that the information, which is likely to disclose the identity of any person, who has requested anonymity and such information which is likely to threaten internal and external security of India shall not be disclosed.