PM excluded from ombudsman's ambit

NEW DELHI: The second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) on Monday recommended the exclusion of Prime Minister from the ambit of the proposed national ombudsman, Rashtriya Lokayukta.

The recommendation, part of a slew of recommendations made by the ARC in its fourth report on "Ethics in Governance", should satisfy those who saw the politically correct advocacy to bring the office of PM under the purview of Lokayukta as fraught with the risk of political uncertainty.

The commission, headed by Veerappa Moily, appears to have heeded the concern as it cites the risk of uncertainty, as well as a power vacuum resulting in governance paralysis as the reason to defy the pitch to keep the office of PM under the ombudsman's scanner.

The Rashtriya Lokayukta, comprising an eminent jurist and Central Vigilance Commissioner as its ex-officio member, should be headed by a sitting or retired Supreme Court judge.

While leaving the PM out, the commission has recommended that the jurisdiction of the Lokayukta should be extended to Union ministers and chief ministers. Justifying the exclusion of PM from the purview of Lokayukta, the report said, "The Prime Minister is accountable to Parliament, and on his survival depends the survival of the government.

If the PM's conduct is open to formal scrutiny by extra-parliamentary authorities, then the government's viability is eroded and Parliament's supremacy is in jeopardy."

"Any enquiry into a PM's official conduct by any authority other than Parliament would severely undermine the PM's capacity to lead the government.