The Court was considering a petition challenging an order of Lok Ayukta, issuing notice to the officials of Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd. (KMSCL) and the State government, including KK Shailaja, on receiving a complaint alleging corruption in the purchase of PPE kits during the covid-19 pandemic.
This complaint was filed before the Lok Ayukta by one Veena S Nair who is an advocate and a Congress leader from Thiruvananthapuram.
The petitioners in the present case included officials of KMSCL and the State government.
The petitioners contended that the Lok Ayukta doesn’t have jurisdiction to deal with the said complaint as it comes under the Disaster Management Act 2005.
The Court on careful examination of the provisions of the Lok Ayukta Act,199 and the Disaster Management Act 2005, ruled that the Lok Ayukta court has jurisdiction to move forward with the said complaint and therefore, dismissed the plea.
“Therefore, the provisions discussed above would exemplify that the Lok Ayukta is having sufficient discretion and mechanism to identify as to whether the complaint is frivolous, and refuse to investigate or discontinue with the investigation,“ the order said.
Source: Barandbench
