New Delhi, Dec 13 || Lokpal chairperson Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose on Monday said corruption is a key element in underperformance of the economy and it undermines democracy and the rule of law.
He was inaugurating a digital Platform LokpalOnline -- an end-to-end digital solution for the management of complaints against public servants filed under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.The online platform can be accessed by all citizens and complaints can be filed from anywhere, anytime at http://lokpalonline.gov.in.
Speaking on the occasion, Justice Ghose said that the LokpalOnline facilitates handling of complaints during the complete lifecycle of the complaint, right from its filing to the final disposal and this will bring more transparency and efficiency in the complaint handling mechanism.
In her address, Justice Abhilasha Kumari, Judicial Member, Lokpal, said that the main aim of Lokpal is to free the country from the malady of corruption and to build a strong and corruption-free India. She said in March 2019, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose was appointed as India's first Lokpal and as a body, it is still growing and progressing. Total transparency, accountability, convenience, and efficiency in functioning is the hallmark of Lokpal, of which the ultimate beneficiary is the common man, she said, adding that steps would be taken to create awareness about the online Lokpal Complaint portal even in rural India so that anyone can file a complaint sitting at home.
B.K. Agarwal, Secretary, Lokpal, said that Justice Abhilasha Kumari headed the committee to supervise the development of this software. He said the portal provides a Dashboard for every complainant, enabling him to view the status of his complaint during its lifecycle. The complainants also receive email alerts at different stages of the complaints along with the copy of the order passed by the Lokpal or any of its benches.
He said the Portal, hosted on NIC Cloud, has been developed on an Open Source Technology. Its security audit has been done by an agency empanelled by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.