POLITICAL AND OFFICIAL APATHY VICTIMEZED LOKPAL The Ninth All India Biennial Conference of Lokpals, Lokayukts and, Upa-Lokayukts held in Bangalore rightly called for conferring constitutional status on the institution of Lokpal. The Chief Justice of India, who attended the conference, had appreciated and endorsed the idea. However, it is doubtful to what extent this recommendation will be pursued to its logical conclusion. There is skepticism on this count because such conferences have become a ritual. Lokpals and Lokayukts meet to air grievances, demand more powers and resources for their I proper functioning and then it is back to square one. The idea of Ombudsman type of institution for the country was first mooted by the First Administrative Reforms commission of 1966. It recommended setting up of a two-tier machinery of Lokpal and Lokayukts to redress the citizens’ grievances and to check corruption and mal-administration. Acting on the recommendations, the Centre tabled a Bill in Parliament in 1968 providing for such an institution. Even as the Bill was waiting passage, the Lok Sabha was dissolved and, consequently, the Bill lapsed. From then onwards, the Bill has met with the same fateful end. Since, 1968, the legislation for Lokpal at the Centre has been tabled not less than eight times (last time in 2001) in Parliament but in vain. Every time it was introduced, it lapsed with the dissolution of House. The result: this institution has failed to see the light of the day at the Centre. Though 17 states have set up the institution, there are varying differences in their respective legislations with regard to their powers, functions and jurisdiction. A comparative analysis of the working of different state Lokayukts present a grim scenario. Whereas in some states, there is no occupant to this office, in others, the holder of this post is more or less toothless. In some states, the Lokayuktas complain of inadequate staff and poor infrastructure while in others the requests for sanction of prosecution or recommendation are gathering dust in the cupboards of the state governments. Consider the typical case of Haryana.Here the institution has been a victim of political and official apathy ever since its evolution in 1998. The first Lokayukt had to face an unceremonious exit after the Act was repealed following the change of guard in the state. Much worse, he had to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court for claiming compensation for [...]
Archive for January 5th, 2008
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BIGGEST EVER IPO IN INDIA
January 5th, 2008 
Tejinder Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company Reliance Power Ltd on Friday announced plans to raise a maximum, of Rs 10,260 crore from the public. With the promoters bringing in Rs 1440 crore the total issue size stands at Rs 11,700 crore. This could be the largest ever public offering of equity shares, beating DLF‘s float of around Rs 9600 crore, if it gets subscribed toward the higher end of the price band. Wire money online to India with Xoom.com for as low as $4.99. The price band for the book building is Rs 405 to Rs 450 for every fully paid up share of Rs 10 each. The largest initial public offer (IPO) in the Indian market opens for subscription on January 15 and likely to be listed on the bourses by first week of February. When asked about the ongoing tussle with Reliance Industries related to supply of gas for his power projects, Anil Ambani said, “India will be long on gas in the medium to long term with all the gas discoveries and we have a lot of companies willing to supply to us.”. Since there was a strong demand for, the issue it was decided not to make any pre IPO placement or any preferential allocation, informed Vallabh Bhansali, Enam Securities, one of the lead managers to the issue. Of the total 260 million shares offered to the public, at least 60 per cent of the net issue will be allocated on a proportional basis to qualified institutional buyers (QIB), 10 per cent will be available for non-institutional bidders and 30 per cent to retail investors. The total issue constitutes 11.1 per cent of the post-issue paid-up capital of the Company. Reliance Energy, part owner of Reliance Power would hold 45 per cent stake in the company post-issue. Money raised from the issue would go to part-finance 13 medium to large sized power projects.Credit rating agencies CRISIL and ICRA have given 4/5 for the issue indicating above average fundamentals. The issue underwent a few changes from the time it filed its first draft prospectus in October. The company had intended to split the paid-up value and issue Rs 2 paid up shares. Reliance Power IPO is an IPO which is now the talk of the town all over the market and even outside. One can see a huge income to brokerage house because almost everyone is ready to [...]
