The Upalokayukta Justice K.N. Phaneendra called for greater coordination among institutions redressing public grievances for better service delivery.
He was interacting with judicial officers of the Mysuru Court and speaking on the ‘Role of Lokayukta Institutions and Legal Services Authority in Public Administration’, here on Sunday, June 18.
Justice Phaneendra said that some cases beyond the jurisdiction of Lokayukta comes before the institution and they are referred to Legal Services Authority or the Court depending on the nature of the case. If the Legal Services Authority also adopts a similar mechanism and refer cases to Lokayukta in case they are within the latter’s jurisdiction, it will help in quick redressal of grievances.
Comparing the scope of Legal Services Authority to the institution of Lokayukta, Justice Phaneendra said that the former has vast powers and has grown tremendously since the mid-1990s. But, in contrast, the institution of Lokayukta has not grown as much, said Justice Phaneendra who called for mutual cooperation between the two institutions. He urged the judicial officers and members of the legal fraternity to spread greater public awareness about Lokayukta in districts, taluks and villages.
Public seeks early redressal of grievances and all such mechanisms and institutions should be patronised so as to facilitate their growth which helps foster better public administration.
Justice Phaneendra said that members of the legal fraternity and judicial officers have greater responsibility and command greater respect given the authority to dispense justice and their actions are governed by certain codified ethics and values based on morals.
He said the laws governing public administration was all encompassing and good governance hinged on proper implementation of the procedural aspects. The public redressal mechanisms like Lokayukta, come into picture when there was a violation of the procedural aspects resulting in deficiency of service. Hence, if there was greater coordination among different such institutions it can help further improve the public grievances redressal mechanism, said Justice Phaneendra.
Principal District and Sessions Judge G.S. Sangreshi, members of the legal fraternity, Lokayukta and others were present.
