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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 The first Lokayukt had to face an unceremonious exit after the Act was repealed following the change of guard in the state.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 his unexpired tenure. Subsequently, the Haryana Assembly enacted legislation in 2003. Surprisingly, the incumbent was found only in 2006. Yet, till date, the state government has not framed the rules for purposes of legislation governing the state Lokayukta. All this depicts the casual and apathetic attitude of the state governments towards the institution.

In recent years, various commissions and committees have stressed the need for establishing and strengthening of this institution. The National Commission to Review the Working of Constitution (NCRWC) set up in 2000, in its recommendations, has stressed the need to enact legislation on Lokpal. It recommended that the Constitution be amended to incorporate a provision making it obligatory on the state governments to set up the institution of Lokayukt in accordance with the provisions of legislation of appropriate legislatures.

The National Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government at the Centre also envisages enactment of the Lokpal Bill. However, the ruling combine has done little in this regard.

Even the Second Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Mr. M.Veerappa Moily, had in its fourth report tilted, "Ethics in Governance" called for an urgent legislation on the subject as well as constitutional status to the institution of Lokpal.
It recommended a Rashtriya Lokayukta at the Central level with a retired Supreme Court judge as the head, an eminent jurist as Member and the Central Vigilance Commissioner as Member-Secretary.

The UPA government should, therefore, endeavour to enact such a legislation without any further delay. The best idea would be to have a single comprehensive Central legislation in this regard, as was done in the case of the Right to Information Act, 2005, which superseded all other state legislations on the subject.

This aforesaid legislation should incorporate the best and ideal inputs and provisions from various states Lokayukt Acts which have worked efficiently and have stood the test of time. It is noteworthy that the Kamataka government has through an ordinance promulgated in September this year granted suo motu powers of inquiry and investigation to the state Lokayukt in respect of the lAS, IPS and other senior officers of the state government.

Earlier, this power was enjoyed by only the Upa-Lokayukt, that too, in respect of lower rung officials. This is indeed a laudable step in the direction of empowering of this institution. The Central legislation should follow this guiding principle. In fine, if in the annual ranking of Global Corruption Index by Transparency International, Norway, Finland, New Zealand etc. are adjudged as clean countries, it must be realized that they were the very first to set up ombudsman-type institution in their respective countries. .

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.
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 apply for IPO and many don’t even have the DEMAT Account and most of them are even trying to open one before Jan 18, 2007. For most of the questions, that comes to the mind because of the two payment options. After going through the RHP document, here are some of the questions (with their answers which I got from the document.) 

1.      When is the IPO opening? Opening on Jan15th 2008 and closing on Jan 18^th 2008, the IPO has just 4 days of availability.

2.      What’s the Retail side of the issue?  Net issue to the public 228,000,000 of which Retail Portion 68,400,000.

3.      What will be the Price ?its 405 to 450 Rs

4.      Is there Discount for IPO? As I m concentrating only on the retailers yes for retailers they have promised 5 percent discount, which will be reflected on the final offer price when we get the allotment .

5.      What is the lot size? 15 stocks

6.      What’s the max Retailers can apply for? With the limit of 1 lac and not more than that for retailers its 225 stocks which is the max bid they can apply for and min bid of 15 stocks. I know you will do the math of multiplying it with 450 and say it exceeds the price, but you guys need to put in the5 percent discount if you take into picture that discount then 225 is the max we can apply for .Some lines from the RHP on this . “ The Bid must be for a minimum of 15 Equity Shares and in multiples of 15 Equity Share thereafter, so as to ensure that the total Bid Amount (including revision of Bids, if any) payable by the Bidder does not exceed Rs. 100,000, net of Retail Discount. At the Cut-off Price, the maximum number of Equity Shares that can be Bid for by Retail Individual Bidders is 225. (Investors may note that Total Bid amount is not just the amount payable at application but the entire amount payable for the bid including the amount payable by Due Date for Balance Amount Payable) In case of revision of Bids, the Retail Individual Bidders have to ensure that the Bid Amount does not exceed Rs. 100,000. In case the Bid Amount is over Rs. 100,000 due to revision of the Bid or revision of the Price Band or on exercise of option to bid at Cut-off Price, the Bid would be considered for allocation under the Non-Institutional Portion. The option to Bid at Cut-off Price is an option given only to the Retail Individual Bidders indicating their agreement to Bid and subscribe to Equity Shares at the final Issue Price as determined at the end of the Book Building Process.”

7.      What are the Payment Options? There are two payment options for retailers
Payment Method-1
Amount Payable on Submission of Bid-cum-Application Form in case of Retail Individual Bidders and Non-Institutional Bidders is Rs. 115.0 per Equity Share, such that it shall not be less than 25% of the Issue Price and Balance Amount Payable shall be paid by the Due Date for Balance Amount Payable. All Non Resident Bidders availing the option of Payment Method-1 are required to submit a copy of an approval from the RBI allowing them to subscribe to the partly-paid up Equity Shares. Under Payment Method – 1, out of the Amount
Payable on Submission of Bid-cum-Application Form, Rs. 2.5 is towards face value and Rs. 112.5 is towards premium.
Payment Method-2
Amount Payable on Submission of Bid-cum-Application Form in case of Retail Individual Bidders and Non-Institutional Bidders shall be 100% of Bid less the Retail Discount.

8.      Some Conclusions Make it plain simple there is one payment way where you need to pay only 25 percent that is 115 rs * 225 lot if you applying for full applicable lot of value 1 lac and there is another payment method where you can just pay all the amount and not just 25 percent .

There will be no preference if you pay by method 1 or 2

Advantage with Payment method 2 is it get allotted to you on allotment day as fully paid stock but in payment 1 its only partially paid which get converted to fully paid after Allotment plus 28 days or so after you pay the remaining amount and the process getting over, so you can’t sell it immediately in payment 1 and you can sell it on the listing day in payment 2.

But in payment 1 if the IPO is fully subscribed and it more than full subscription and you don’t get full allotment and you are given only half the lot applied and less than that reliance power has the right to take the full amount for the lot allotted and if its within the 25 percent amount you had paid they will take the amount and they will send the remaining money to us, that way its advantageous for us that the stocks come as fully paid stock but just lesser quantity.

With this IPO this famous for sure this will get fully subscribed and may be even 15 times on the retail side then we will get only 1 lot each and will come to us as fully paid stock and we can get the remaining money back and we can sell the stock if we want on the first day . 

My final Conclusion on the payment option is Payment 1 which is 25 percent payment now and remaining on allotment is good so you can use remaining fund for some other IPO.