Pass anti corruption bill in India

Appeal to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, India to introduce Anti-corruption bill prepared by Lok Satta in the ensuing budget session of the legislative assembly.

We, citizens of Andhra Pradesh wholeheartedly welcome the strong commitment to combat corruption that you expressed in the media recently. To keep up your promises, we request you to introduce the draft Bill “Prevention of Corruption (Andhra Pradesh) Amendment Act, 2009” prepared and sent to you on June 11th 2009 by Dr Jayaprakash Narayan of Lok Satta Party.

To combat corruption in our state, there is a great need to amend the current legal framework to make it more effective as on the following lines:

1. Facilitate seizure and forfeiture of property of corrupt public servants

2. Establish special anti-corruption courts in each district

3. Appoint independent prosecutors drawn from judiciary

4. Establish an independent anti-corruption agency functioning under the overall supervision of Lokayukta

5. Presumption of guilt on public servants in case of disproportionate assets and those who are caught red-handed while accepting bribe.

We also require enacting a new law to integrate the myriad disciplinary procedures against erring public servants. Right now there is a complicated maze with multiplicity of agencies dealing with such matters: Departmental enquiry, Tribunal for disciplinary proceedings, Public Servants’ Inquiry Act, Commissionerate of Enquiries, Vigilance Commission and Lokayukta. We also need to integrate Lokayukta with the Vigilance Commission.

All these issues were addressed in the carefully prepared draft Bill “Prevention of Corruption (Andhra Pradesh) Amendment Act, 2009” which has been sent to you by Dr Jayaprakash Narayan of the Lok Satta Party. This Bill has been prepared taking into account the recommendations of the Law Commission, Administrative Reforms Commission and other expert bodies.

We request you to introduce the Bill in the ensuing Budget Session. We, the citizens of Andhra Pradesh desperately need this bill to become a law to save the common man from the clutches of the widespread corruption in the state.

We trust that you will act speedily to enact this legislation for combating Corruption.