Format to file complaint with Lokpal to be notified soon: Union Minister Jitendra Singh

A format to file complaint with the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal will be be notified soon, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said on Tuesday. As per norms, a complaint shall be filed in the prescribed form to be notified by the central government. When asked by PTI about the probable timeline to notify the format, Singh said, "That will happen soon".

Giving further details, an official from the Personnel Ministry official said it has held consultations with the Law Ministry on the complaint format.

"We have received necessary inputs from the Law Ministry. Some discussions are going on within the ministry and the format will be made public soon," the official said.

Meanwhile, the Lokpal has been scrutinising all the complaints received by it "in whatever form they were sent". Out of the total 1,065 complaints received till September 30, 2019, 1,000 have been heard and disposed of, according to latest official data. Lokpal is an apex body to deal with cases of corruption at the national level. It has to enquire into allegations of corruption against public functionaries of the central government in a time-bound manner.

President Ram Nath Kovind on March 23 had administered the oath of office to Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose as the chairperson of Lokpal. The Lokpal's eight members were administered the oath by Justice Ghose on March 27. Former chief justices of different high courts - justices Dilip B Bhosale, Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Abhilasha Kumari and Ajay Kumar Tripathi had taken oath as judicial members of the Lokpal.

Former first woman chief of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Archana Ramasundaram, ex-Maharashtra chief secretary Dinesh Kumar Jain, former IRS officer Mahender Singh and Gujarat cadre ex-IAS officer Indrajeet Prasad Gautam were sworn-in as the Lokpal's non-judicial members.

According to rules, there is a provision for a chairperson and a maximum of eight members in the Lokpal panel. Of these, four need to be judicial members. The Lokpal Act, which envisages appointment of a Lokpal at the Centre and lokayuktas in states, to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.