Mangalore: Lokayukta Essential for Good Governance: Justice Hegde
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (TU/CN)
Mangalore, Jan 24: Lokayukta Justice N Santhosh Hegde said on Saturday January 24 that the Lokayukta is not only meant for eradication of corruption, but also for good governance in the nation.
Speaking after presenting the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award-2009’ to A G Kodgi, chairman, third state finance commission, he said that today people have accepted maladministration either knowingly or unknowingly as a way of life. The award was presented at the ‘Mangalore Today Conclave-2009’ held at TMA Pai Convention Centre as part of the13th anniversary celebrations of the magazine.
Justice Hegde added that society needed a person like Kodgi in every field. The Lokayukta would not have come into existence if such persons did not exist in administration. ‘Nowadays, the problem is people could not differentiate between legitimate wealth and illegitimate wealth’, he lamented.
Saying that corruption dominates every field, he added that 23,000 cases of maladministration have been pending for a long time. According to the fifth state finance commission report, any government official can live a decent life. Legitimate income is certainly possible, he added.
Talking about Panchayat Raj, Kodgi said good governance is the basic need of the society. Decentralization of the administration is the backbone of the democracy. He also said that the award will help him to work more for society. N Vinay Hegde, chancellor of Nitte University, delivered a lecture on communal harmony, while Ananthakrishna, chairman, Karnataka Bank Limited, Flavia Agnes, women’s activist, T Gautham S Pai, managing director, Manipal Press Limited, and Sirish Prabhu, chief of strategic analysis, Canada, also spoke on various topics.
Editor V U George, and Mahesh, were present on the occasion.