Eighteen complaints of irregularities and corruption have been filed at the Jana Lokpal Aayog (Citizen's Ombudsman Commission) in the fiscal year 2021/22. The Aayog is the citizen's ombudsman body set up by the Madhes Province government. It was established in August last year.
However, the Commission has not been able to complete an investigation into a single complaint so far for lack of managing the required human resources, Commission's chairperson Ram Sahay Raya Yadav said.
According to Yadav, the highest number of complaints is related to the irregularities at the local level in the districts. He added that the Commission has not been able to carry ahead with the investigation into the complaints as it did not get the Regulations and the required employees for long. The Commission is mandated to probe the alleged irregularities and corruption cases in the public bodies and organisations in the Province and forward action against the culprits.
Most of the complaints are related to corruption in developmental projects operated at the local level and to irregularities in the appointment process.
The highest number of such complaints is from Dhanusha, Mahottari, and Rautahat, among other districts.
"Although the Commission has positions for 33 employees, only the office chief is a permanent employee," Commission chair Yadav said, adding that on the one hand complaints were not coming in high numbers due to lack of publicity while on the other hand, the Commission has not been able to look into the complaints due to lack of employees.
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