Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said the ordinary citizens’ trust in constitutional institutions is democracy’s greatest strength.
Addressing a programme held to mark the 50th Foundation Day ceremony of the Lokayukta Organisation here, he said good governance depends on public trust and any institution that lives up to the people’s trust cannot be prevented from progressing in a democratic system.
“If public confidence is absent, we cannot achieve the objective of good governance. To achieve it, it is essential that even the person sitting at the last rung of society feels pride and confidence in constitutional institutions,” he said.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Lokayukta Organisation formally began functioning on September 14, 1977. Justice Vishambhar Dayal provided leadership to the organisation at that time. Justice Sanjay Mishra is the state’s Lok Ayukta now.
Yogi said that during the tenure of the present Lokayukta, a comprehensive document covering the organisation’s 50-year journey should be prepared, along with a strong presentation detailing the number of cases received, disposed of and acted upon. He released the Lokayukta administration’s commemorative publication and information booklet. He also viewed an exhibition and a short film based on the organisation’s achievements over the last 50 years.
“The makers of the Constitution adopted a parliamentary democratic system for India. If an elected representative loses public trust,
the government goes. Every five years, representatives must return to the people. If a representative fails to respect public sentiment, the people have every right to replace that representative and allow someone else,” he said.
He said the framers of the Constitution identified justice, truth, and equality as fundamental requirements of India and emphasized that every individual has the right to get justice.
Yogi noted that public grievances are resolved within stipulated timelines through platforms such as IGRS, CM Helpline and Janata Darshan. He said some individuals, however, submit unnecessary complaints. He shared an experience and said one individual had lodged a complaint against a school. He said when the complaint was found to be false during investigation, the complainant demanded that all schools in the district be investigated. Such false complaints should be rejected as they waste the time of the system as well as that of honest individuals genuinely seeking justice, he added.
He said the Lokayukta Organisation has made effective use of technology. He recalled the situation in 2017 and said the highest number of complaints in the Public Distribution System (PDS) related to foodgrain distribution. Out of every 100 complaints received in
Janata Darshan, nearly 60 were related to PDS. He said in order to address the issue, technology was introduced, e-PoS machines were installed and connected to monitoring screens at headquarters. He said if any irregularity occurred at any of the 80,000 fair price shops, an alert is generated immediately. This has reduced the possibility of manipulation to zero. He said now despite around 500 people attending Janata Darshan, not a single complaint related to PDS is received.
He said a grand event should be organised by inviting Lokayuktas from across the country so that information about their best practices and achievements could also be shared. He further recommended inviting Lokpal members and other stakeholders for discussions on various issues. Through such dialogue, the Lokayukta Organisation would move forward with a strong roadmap for its next 50 years, he said.
