Lokayukta's reply to our first RTI

Some of us here wanted to know more about the Lokayukta office than what the newspapers tell us. Once the excitement of raids and big names get over, we rarely get to know the closure of those cases. So why not ask Lokayukta on a regular basis? Here is what we asked via an RTI application to start with:

1. For the period October 2008 to December 2008 details of officials (including name, designation and office of work at the time of investigation, current designation and office of work) against whom the Lok Ayuktha has sought permission from the Government of Karnataka (and/or Government of India) for prosecution.
2. Against how many of these requests has the government responded?
3. What have been the government's reasonings where sanctions have been denied?
4. What is the legal status of cases where sanction has been denied?
5. What action has been taken by Lokayukta in cases where the sanction has been granted?

Why did we ask these questions? Because, we were told by many, including Justic Hegde himself that in most cases, they don't get the permission to prosecute from the government. Moreover, we would want to know what action Lokayukta's office takes once they get the permission.

Well, must say that the reply was a bit disappointing. All the cases are in "pending investigation" status :( Sanction for prosecution (the jargon is PSO) was sought in only 1 out of total 73 raid and trap cases during Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan.

Here is the scanned RTI reply with status of 73 cases.

Needless to say, we should have known that these cases take time before they reach a stage where PSO would be sought. We will send in a new application asking specifically for last 10 cases where Justic Hegde has asked for PSO.

And even more needless to say, if you want to join in these Lokayukta RTI projects, please drop us a message to get connected with the members working on this project. More the merrier. And mind you, we are not doing any investigative or dangerous work here, but just working to bring out information already available with the office of Lokayukta.