Chapter XI FINANCE,ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT OF LOKAYUKTA

The Lokayukta shall prepare, in such form and at such time in each financial year as may be prescribed, its budget for the next financial year, showing the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Lokayukta and forward the same to the Government of Mizoram for information.

The Government of Mizoram may, after due appropriation made by Mizoram State Legislative Assembly by law in this behalf, make to the Lokayukta grants of such sums of money as are required to be paid for the salaries and allowances payable to the Chairperson and Members and the administrative expenses, including the salaries and allowances and pension payable to or in respect of officers and other employees of the Lokayukta.

(1) The Lokayukta shall maintain proper accounts and other relevant records and prepare an annual statement of accounts in such form as may be prescribed by the Government of Mizoram in consultation with the Accountant General of Mizoram. (2) The accounts of the Lokayukta shall be audited by the Accountant General of Mizoram at such intervals as may be specified by him. (3) The Accountant General of Mizoram or any person appointed by him in connection with the audit of the accounts of the Lokayukta under this Act shall have the same rights, privileges and authority in connection with such audit, as the Accountant General of Mizoram generally has, in connection with the audit of the Government accounts and, in particular, shall have the right to demand the production of books, accounts, connected vouchers and other documents and papers and to inspect any of the offices of the Lokayukta. (4) The accounts of the Lokayukta, as certified by the Accountant General of Mizoram or any other person appointed by him in this behalf, together with the audit report thereon, shall be forwarded annually to the State Government and the State Government shall cause the same to be laid before Mizoram Legislative Assembly.

The Lokayukta shall furnish to the State Government, at such time and in such form and manner as may be prescribed or as the State Government may request, such returns and statements and such particulars in regard to any matter under the jurisdiction of the Lokayukta, as the State Government may, from time to time, require.

(1) Every public servant shall make a declaration of his assets and liabilities in the manner as may be prescribed. (2) A public servant shall, within a period of thirty days from the date on which he makes and subscribes an oath or affirmation to enter upon his office, furnish to the competent authority the information relating to— (a) the assets of which he, his spouse and his dependants are, jointly or severally, owners or beneficiaries; (b) his liabilities and that of his spouse and his dependants. (3) A public servant holding his office as such, at the time of the commencement of this Act, shall furnish information relating to such assets and liabilities, as referred to in sub-section (2), to the competent authority within six months of the coming into force of this Act. (4) Every public servant shall file with the competent authority, on or before the 31st July of every year, an annual return of such assets and liabilities, as referred to in sub-section (2), as on the 31st March of that year. (5) The information under sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) and annual return under sub-section (4) shall be furnished to the competent authority in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed. (6) The competent authority in respect of each Department shall ensure that all such statements are published on the website of such Department by 31st August of that year. Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, “dependants” means sons, daughters and any other person(s) who have no separate means of earning and are wholly dependant on the public servant for their livelihood.

If any public servant willfully or for reasons which are not justifiable, fails to— (a) declare his assets ; or (b) gives misleading information in respect of such assets and is found to be in possession of assets not disclosed or in respect of which misleading information was furnished, then, such assets shall, unless otherwise proved, be presumed to belong to the public servant and shall be presumed to be assets acquired by corrupt means: Provided that the competent authority may condone or exempt the public servant from furnishing information in respect of assets not exceeding such minimum value as may be prescribed.

(1) Whenever any person makes any false and frivolous or vexatious complaint and causes arrest of a public servant, if it appears to the Judge of a special Court by whom the case is heard that there is no sufficient ground of proceeding or for causing such arrest the Special Court may award such compensation not exceeding Rs. 1,000 to be paid by the person so causing the arrest to the public servant so arrested for his loss of time and expenses in the matter, as the Judge thinks fit. (2) In such cases, if more public servants than one are arrested, the Judge may, in like manner, award to each one of them such compensation not exceeding Rs. 1,000, as such the Judge thinks fit. (3) No Court except a Special Court shall take cognizance of an offence under sub-section (1). (4) Any compensation awarded under this section may be recovered as if it were a fine, and, if it cannot be so recovered, the person by whom it is payable shall be sentenced to simple imprisonment for such term not exceeding 3(three) months as the Judge directs, unless such sum is sooner paid.

(1) Where any offence under sub-section(1) of section 45 has been committed by any society or association of persons or trust (whether registered or not), every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was directly in charge of, and was responsible to, the society or association of persons or trust, for the conduct of the business or affairs or activities of the society or association of persons or trust as well as such society or association of persons or trust shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly: Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment provided in this Act, if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by a society or association of persons or trust (whether registered or not) and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of such society or association of persons or trust, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

It shall be the duty of the Lokayukta to present annually to the Governor a report on the work done by the Lokayukta and on receipt of such report the Governor shall cause a copy thereof together with a memorandum explaining, in respect of the cases, if any, where the recommendation of the Lokayukta was not accepted, the reason for such non-acceptance to be laid before the Mizoram Legislative Assembly.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings under this Act shall lie against any public servant, in respect of anything which is done in good faith or intended to be done in the discharge of his official functions or in exercise of his powers.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against the Lokayukta or against any officer, employee, agency or any person, in respect of anything which is done in good faith or intended to be done under this Act or the rules or the regulations made thereunder.

The Chairperson, Members, officers and other employees of the Lokayukta shall be deemed, when acting or purporting to act in pursuance of any of the provisions of this Act, to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.

No civil court shall have jurisdiction in respect of any matter which the Lokayukta is empowered by or under this Act to determine.

The Lokayukta may consider to every person against whom a complaint has been made before it, under this Act, legal assistance to defend his case before the Lokayukta, if such assistance is requested for.

The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any enactment other than this Act or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any enactment other than this Act.

The provisions of this Act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of any other laws for the time being in force.

The Lokayukta shall have and exercise the same jurisdiction powers and authority in respect of contempt of itself as a High court has and may exercise, and for this purpose, the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (Central Act 70 of 1971) shall have the effect subject to the modification that the references therein to the High Court shall be construed as a reference to the Lokayukta as the case may be.

For the protection of complainant under this Act, section 20 of the Anti-Corruption, Grievance Redressal and Whistleblower Protection Act, 2011 shall apply and that the word ‘Lokpal’, wherever it occurs in that section, shall be construed as Lokayukta.

(1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act. (2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:— (a) the form of complaint referred to in clause (e) of sub-section (1) of section 2; (b) the term of the Search Committee, the fee and allowances payable to its Members and the manner of selection of panel of names under sub-section (5) of section 4; (c) the post or posts in respect of which the appointment shall be made after consultation with the State Public Service Commission under the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 10; (d) other matters for which the Lokayukta shall have the powers of a civil court under clause (vi) of sub-section (1) of section 27; (e) the manner of sending the order of attachment along with the material to the Special Court under sub-section (2) of section 29; (f) the manner of transmitting the letter of request under sub-section (2) of section 36; (g) the form and the time for preparing in each financial year the budget for the next financial year, showing the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Lokayukta under section 40; (h) the form for maintaining the accounts and other relevant records and the form of annual statement of accounts under sub-section (1) of section 42; (i) the form and manner and the time for preparing the returns and statements along with particulars under section 43; (j) the form and the time for preparing an annual return giving a summary of its activities during the previous year under sub-section (5) of section 44; (k) the form of annual return to be filed by a public servant under sub-section (5) of section 44; (l) the minimum value for which the competent authority may condone or exempt a public servant from furnishing information in respect of assets under the proviso to section 45; (m) any other matter which is to be or may be prescribed.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder, the Lokayukta may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act. (2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such regulations may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:— (a) the conditions of service of the secretary and other officers and staff of the Lokayukta and the matters which in so far as they relate to salaries, allowances, leave or pensions, require the approval of the Governor under sub-section (4) of section 10; (b) the place of sittings of benches of the Lokayukta under clause (f) of sub-section (1) of section 16; (c) the manner for displaying on the website of the Lokayukta, the status of all complaints pending or disposed of along with records and evidence with reference thereto under sub-section (10) of section 20; (d) the manner and procedure of conducting preliminary inquiry or investigation under sub-section (11) of section 20; (e) any other matter which is required to be, or may be, specified under this Act.

Every rule and regulation made under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before the Mizoram Legislative Assembly, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, the House agrees in making any modification in the rule or regulation, or the House agrees that the rule or regulation should not be made, the rule or regulation shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule or regulation.

(1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Government of Mizoram may, by order, publish in the Official Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as appear to be necessary for removing the difficulty: Provided that no such order shall be made under this section after the expiry of a period of two years from the commencement of this Act. (2) Every order made under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before the Mizoram Legislative Assembly.