Ombudsman: Administrative Law

by Harmanjot Kaur

OMBUDSMAN

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

With the popular quote of Gandhi i.e. hate the sin, not the sinner. We see that there are various underlying reasons for the increase in corruption. However, with the evolution of citizen-centric government, the evolution of concepts such as probity and integrity; Ombudsman came into the picture.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. (Nicholas Clairmont)

Under the supervision of Anna Hazare, we see the evolution of the Lokayukta and Lokpal Act, which doomed as the bud flourishing into a garland binding people together who would fight against the menace of corruption.

We observe that in order to keep an eye on the increasing instances of corruption, there are various provisions laid down by the government. One such system includes the system of Lokpal and Lokayukta.

Lokpal works as the chief authority who would be working at the Centre level in the administrative setup.

Similarly, Lokayukta would be the chief authority to keep a check on the corruption and improve transparency at the State level.

This system was adopted by the Scandinavian country, Sweden where it was first implemented.

In addition to this, we have the system of 2^nd ARC (Administrative Reforms Committee) who would work as the catalyst and trainer for the new bureaucrats such as IAS and IPS officers.

Similarly, we have the Nolan Committee report for the explanation of role of ‘Ethics’ in the public governance system.

1.     Integrity: The judge should keep in mind the necessity to work impartially. He should not be a party to dispute. We observe that integrity is the key. One should not be afraid about decisions by studying the situations of both parties. There should be no political pressure, coercion or pressure from big businessmen etc.

 

2.     Selflessness: One has to be impartial at the time of delivery of justice. The laws related to natural justice, equity and objectivity should be followed. One should not look for personal profits such as bribery, champerty, actionable claim in case of a case related to Transfer of Property. 

 

3.     Objectivity: One has to objectively look at the matter with a keen eye on attention to detail. One should not get subjective when the other party tries to make up the findings and conceal some of the potential threats. One should not be afraid to present the correct report without getting affected by personal relations of past enmity. 

 

4.     Accountability: One should be accountable in the matters related to public policy and audit. One should be extra careful so that one does not miss any detail. Otherwise, it could lead to money laundering or similar corrupt activities. 

 

5.     Honesty: One should honestly explain the findings. The rules related to non-partisanship, objectivity and Natural Justice should be followed. One should objectively explain the areas.

 

6.     Leadership: Since the work of a judge is to work for justice, he should be able to make deliberate efforts to delegate the work efficiently among his subordinates. He should be able to have EQ so that he could relate to them, their experience and whether they can understand and implement the work carefully. 

 

7.  Openness:  The ability to work in a team is a must. There is a need to share the data and cooperate, so one should be diligent and able to function as a team player. Subsequently, members can be assigned special tasks related to their subject and research area.

Thus, we see that there are various steps taken by the judiciary and the State to ensure equity, justice and the good conscience at the time of delivery of justice. Various steps have been taken to ensure the unbiasedness of the person acting as the ombudsman. One such step is that there should be no political inclination of the person. He should not be much involved in politics. He should act in an unbiased manner. However, many things depend on the person's own inner conscience and morale regarding society and governance. Thus, here again we see that the concepts pertinent to the inner cleansing and religion comes into play!

Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant 

nor the served. (Gandhi)

 Also Read:

1. Jurisprudence: Administration of Justice

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2022/04/jurisprudence-administration-of-justice.html

2. Jurisprudence: Relationship between Law and Ethics

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2022/04/jurisprudence-relation-between-law-and.html

3. Administrative Law: Ombudsman

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2021/12/ombudsman.html

4. Privacy Law: The Aftermath of Puttaswamy's Judgement

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2021/12/privacy-law-aftermath-of-puttaswamys.html

5. Case Laws

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/search/label/Case%20Laws

6. Labour Law: Employee State Insurance Act

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2022/04/labour-law-employee-state-insurance-act.html

7. Know the law 

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2022/04/know-law.html

8. Shipping Contract and the clauses covered under it

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2021/12/shipping-contracts-and-clauses-covered.html

9. Labour Law: Employee Compensation Act

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2022/04/labour-law-employee-compensation-act.html

10. Labour Law: Minimum Wages Act

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2022/04/labour-law-minimum-wages-act-1948.html

11. Labour Law: Equal Remuneration Act

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2022/04/labour-law-equal-remuneration-act.html

12. Labour Law: Bonded Labour Act

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2022/04/labour-law-bonded-labour-act.html

13. Labour law: Payment of Wages Act

https://lawpaws007.blogspot.com/2022/04/labour-law-payment-of-wages-act-1936.html