Santosh Hegde

BANGALORE: "Society has a defeatist attitude towards corruption," Lokayukta Santosh Hegde had good reason to make this remark at a talk on "Probity in Public Life" here on Saturday.

Only 234 complaints were received from a population of 5.6 crore in the State, conveying the message to corrupt officials that they need not fear punitive measures.

At the sub-registrars' offices, he noted, the rules were known to all. Yet, bribes were paid and nobody complained. "Somebody should be brave enough to fight this corruption. They could come to the Lokayukta office to register their complaints," he told the gathering of mainly Chartered Accountants.

The institution of Lokayukta, he said, was not only an anti-corruption body but also an agency to oversee good governance. Grievance redressal was another key role. "When I took over, there were 16,000 written grievances. That has been reduced to 13,000 in three months. Of the 700 pending complaints received from different districts, at least 500 were settled then and there," he informed. By admitting that "our generation has failed to eradicate corruption," Mr. Hegde hoped the next generation would achieve that, provided tainted money was seen as not good money. To promote this, he proposed to write to the Education Department to include anti-corruption content in the curriculum. Corruption had become a "cancerous menace." He put the blame for this on red tapism built into every rule and a social attitude that respected wealth without differentiating between ill-gotten money and lawfully earned money. "There is no social stigma attached to corruption," he observed, adding that the delay in the justice delivery system also bred corruption. Mr. Hegde said the Chief Minister had repeatedly promised to confer on the Lokayukta suo motu powers to prosecute corrupt officials. "I told him that I will speak to the press about it every day. The Chief Minister has now said he will place it before the Cabinet sub-committee," he said.

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