RAMA SUBBA REDDY Vs. LOKAYUKTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These writ petitions raise some important questions of law relating to the jurisdiction and functioning of the Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta under theA.P. Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta Act No. 11/1983 (for short''the Act")- The preamble to the Act reads as follows : "An Act to make provision for the appointment and functions of Lokayukta & Upa-Lokayukta for investigation of Administrative action taken by or on behalf of the Government of A.P. or certain Local and Public Authorities in the State of A.P. (including any omission and commission in connection with or arising out of such action) in certain cases and for matters connected therewith" (underlining is ours) Some of the expressions defined in the Act and relevant for the purpose of disposal of these writ petitions are 2 (a) "Action" means action taken by a public servant in the discharge of his functions, manner and includes any omission and commission in connection with or arising out of such action; and all other expressions connecting action shall be construed accordingly ; (i) "Officer" means a person appointed to a public service or post in connection with the affairs of the State of A.P., but does not include a person holding a post carrying a minimum scale of pay of rupees one thousand one hundred and fifty and below ; (k) "Public servant" means a person falling under any of the following descriptions, namely: (i) every Minister referred to in clause (g) ; (ii) every Member of either House of the State Legislature, including the Chief Whip in the Assembly and the Chief Whip in the Council, whether present or past ; (iii) every officer referred to in clause (i); (iv) (1) every Chairman of a Zilla Parishad, and every President. of a Panchayat Samithi, constituted by or under the A.P. Panchayat Samithis and Z.Ps. Act, 1959; (2) every Mayor of the Municipal Corporation constituted by or under the relevant law for the time being in force; (3) every Chairman of a Municipal Council constituted or, deemed to be constituted under the A.P. Municipalities Act, 1965, other than that of second and third grade Municipalities ; (v) every Chairman or President, by whatever name called of the governing body to which the management is entrusted and every director if any in respect of (1) any local authority in the State ; (2) any Corporation (not being a local authority) established by or under State Act and owned or controlled by the Government; (3) any Government Company within the meaning of Sec. 617 of the Companies Act, 1956. (4) any Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 or the A.P. (Telangana Area) Public Societies Registration Act, 1350 F, which is subject to the control of the Government; (5) any co-operative society registered or deemed to be registered under the A.P. Co-operative Societies Act, 1964 whose area of operation extends to the whole of the State or is confined to a part of the State extending to an area not less than a district; (vi) every Vice-Chancellor and every Registrar, of a University in the State established by law made by the State Legislature ;

(2.) Sections 3 to 6 pertain to the appointment of Lokayukta & UpaLokayukta, their conditions of service and removal from office on the ground of misbehaviour or incapacity. U/s 9 any person is entitled to make a complaint relating to an allegation in respect of any action to the Lokayukta or Upa-Lokayukta. On receiving such complaint or suo motu the Lokayukta or the Upa-Lokayukta is empowered to initiate investigation following the procedure prescribed us 10 of refuse to investigate any complaint for the reasons mentioned in sub-sec. (4) of Sec. 10 of the Act. However, if the Governor requires the Lokayukta to investigate any action, the Lokayukta shall comply with such order notwithstanding anything in the Act as provided in sub-sec. (3) of Sec. 18. The matter, which are excluded from the purview of the Lokayukta and the Upa-Lokayukta and the authorities against whom they are not empowered to initiate investigation are mentioned in Sections 8 and 21 respectively. In respect of public servants specified in sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 7 the function of investigation of any action taken by any one of those public servants is entrusted to the Lokayukta and investigation of public servants is entrusted to the Upa-lokayukta subject to the exception as provided in sub-sec. (3) of Sec. 7 where the Lokayukta for the reasons to be recorded in writing may undertake investigation of a matter that falls within the purview of the Upa-Lokayukta. The binding nature of the reports of Lokayukta and Upa-lokayukta is provided in Sec. 12. The procedure to be followed by the Lokayukta or Upa-Lokayukta for purpose of conducting investigation is provided in Secs. 10 and 11. Under sub-sec. (2) of Sec. 11 they shall have all the powers of the Civil Court in respect of the following matters, namely(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath ; (b) requiring the discovery and production of any document; (c) receiving evidence on affidavits, (d) requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any Court of office; (e) issuing commissions for the examination of witness of documents; (f) such other matters as may be prescribed. Where the Lokayukta or the Upa-Lokayukta has not been recommended he may submit a special report to the Governor as is provided in sub-sec. (4) of Sec. 12. It is provided in Sec. 22 that the provisions of the Act shall be in addition to the provisions of any other enactment or any rule of law under which remedy in any other manner is available to a person making a complaint under the Act.

(3.) The Rules relevant for our purpose are Rules 5, 6 and 7 of the A.P. Lokayukta & Upa-Lokayukta (Investigations) Rules, 1984. Rule 5 deals with preliminary verification that may be made by the Lokayukta or UpaLokayukta on receiving the complaint. After making necessary preliminary verification if the Lokayukta or Upa-Lokayukta proposes to conduct an investigation into the complaint, the procedure to be followed by him for the commencement of investigation is provided in Rule 6. Sub-rule (7) of Rule 6 is as follows :