In one stroke, Rajasthan govt is reversing gains made in battle against graft

It is remarkable how state governments in the country are going ahead with implementing some of the most bizarre measures, away from the glare of public scrutiny that the Union government is subjected to. Rajasthan's new law to protect public servants in corruption cases is one such example.

The Rajasthan government is reportedly about to bring a Bill in the state Assembly that seeks to prohibit any probe against “a Judge or a Magistrate or a public servant” without prior sanction of the state government. Within the purview of this law is any probe for any “act done by them while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of their official duties”.

It essentially means that if police, CBI, Lokayukta or any other investigative agency wants to probe a public servant in Rajasthan for an act of corruption or any other crime, the agency will have to take permission from the state government for the same. The government has been given a leisurely period of six months to decide on the request.

If passed, the Code of Criminal Procedure (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill will replace The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, which has already been in force in the state since September 6. With 160 MLAs, the BJP is in a brute majority in the 200-member House and should face very little problem in getting the Bill passed.

However, these provisions will deliver a huge setback to incremental progress achieved in dealing with corruption, over the years. The State is the fountainhead of corruption and the wheels of corruption move only with the complicity of government officials.

Chanakya is believed to have written in one of his treatises on corruption that the relationship between government officials and public money is akin to that between fish and water. So, just like it is impossible to assess how much water a fish drinks (if indeed fish drink water), it may now become impossible to find out how much public money a corrupt public servant in Rajasthan has embezzled.

The State has taken many steps over the years in a bid to unlock this riddle of holding public officials accountable for misappropriation of public funds. The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, enabled holding public servants accountable for “gratification other than legal remuneration”. A punishment of six months to five years plus fine was envisaged.

However, even this Act made it necessary to obtain prior sanction from the central or state government to prosecute a public servant. The multiple public agitations for a strong and independent anti-corruption ombudsman, Lokpal, argued for taking away the power to grant this sanction from the government to the Lokpal.

Even though the Parliament is yet to pass the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Amendment) Bill, 2013, this is the arrangement that the Bill envisages. So, whenever it becomes a law, the power to grant sanction for probing a public servant will rest with an independent body and not the government.

The proposed Rajasthan Act serves to reverse this position entirely and thus, will only serve to protect and encourage corrupt public servants. What is worse is that this Bill also gags media from reporting about the case until government's sanction is received. This will keep general public in the dark about such cases, enabling the government to shield its corrupt officers in the absence of media glare.

This is a huge setback for the anti-corruption movement and the “anti-corruption crusader” image that Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to cultivate, given that his party is in power in the state. It is time for him to act and nudge the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan to withdraw this Bill and strengthen the fight against corruption, instead of weakening it further.