Seize property of the corrupt, says Bhushan

Supreme Court advocate and AAP leader Prashant Bhushan favours seizing money earned dishonestly by corrupt officials and confiscation of their property.

He also wants a rigorous process to select Lokpal members and to ensure the financial independence of investigative agencies to combat corruption.

Bhushan was addressing a training programme for IAS officers and other senior government officers here late Thursday, said a press release from the organisers Friday.

The programme was organised by the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy and Jindal Institute of Leadership Development.

Bhushan also called for clear laws and rules to prohibit officers to join companies whose files they had earlier dealt with.

A confidant of AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, Bhushan suggested that videography of court proceedings would have a huge impact on the way the courts, judges and lawyers function.

He asserted that investigative agencies should not be controlled by the very people they were meant to investigate and called for a truly independent corruption investigative machinery.

Referring to the provisions of Jan Lokpal Bill, he pointed out that it seeks to keep investigative agencies independent of the government.

He noted that the disciplinary power exercised by the government in matters of transfer, posting, suspension and writing of Annual Confidential Reports often hampers the independence of investigative agencies.

He asserted that the lives of ordinary people would be radically transformed by a corrupt free and an efficient judicial system.

C. Raj Kumar, vice chancellor of the O.P. Jindal Global University, stressed the need to improve the quality of governance and usher in good governance.

"No efforts to strengthen democratic institutions in India is possible without effectively fighting corruption," he said.

"The nature of corruption that prevails in India has created huge distrust between the state and the citizenry."