U'khand to implement Lokayukta based on Lokpal

Hailing the passage of Lokpal Bill as historic, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today said Uttarakhand will be the first state to implement a Lokayukta Act based on the anti-corruption law passed by the Parliament.
"Passage of Lokpal has been historic. I am thankful to our central leaders for this. Uttarakhand will lead the rest of the states in the country in implementing a Lokayukta Act based on the Lokpal legislation passed by Parliament," Bahuguna told reporters here today.
The statement by the chief minister makes it clear that the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Act passed by the state assembly during the previous BJP rule and given Presidential assent recently will not see the light of day.

Bahuguna had reservations about implementing the Uttarakhand Lokatyukta Act passed during Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri's tenure as chief minister and was keen on making amendments to it before bringing it into force.
The chief minister said the provisions of the Lokayukta Act passed by Khanduri government did not form part of the Lokpal bill passed by Lok Sabha yesterday and Uttarakhand's Lokayukta Act will be based on the one passed by Parliament and not on the one passed by the state assembly.