Arunachal assembly passes Lokayukta bill

CM Nabam Tuki said it was mandatory for all states to establish a Lokayukta within a year after Parliament passed the Bill

The deck is cleared for creation of a Lokayukta in Arunachal Pradesh, with the assembly passing the Lokayukta Bill by voice vote after a long debate.

Taking part in the discussion after tabling the bill yesterday chief minister Nabam Tuki said, it was mandatory for all the states to establish a Lokayukta within one year after the Parliament passed the Bill and notified on January 14 last.

The state's Lokayukta Bill consisting 59 clauses would be a strong tool to check corruption in the state as present and pastchief ministers including ministers, MLAs, government officers and even NGOs are under its purview, he pointed out.

The Lokayukta would consist of a chairperson who should be a judge of the Supreme court or a chief justice of a high court, two members, out of whom one would be judicial member and they would be from Arunachal Pradesh Schedule Tribe and one of them should be an woman.

While Congress members J K Panggeng and Bamang Felix besides BJP MLA Dr Tangor Tapak suggested to constituted a committee to examine the aspects of the bill before being passed in the assembly, Tuki requested them to let the bill passed and assured them to examine all the pros and cons of the bill and make necessary amendments in future.