Maharashtra cabinet decides to bring chief minister, ministers and Opposition leaders under jurisdiction of Lokayukta

Mumbai: In a significant move, the Maharashtra cabinet on Tuesday decided to bring the office of Maharashtra chief minister under the jurisdiction of Lokayukta. The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Talking to reporters after the meeting, state Water Resources minister Girish Mahajan said that apart from the chief minister, ministers and Opposition leaders will also be brought under the ambit of Lokayukta. “This is a very good initiative to ensure corruption-free governance,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_5282291” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. PTI[/caption] The Lokayukta is an anti-corruption ombudsman organisation which mainly helps people publicise corruption among the politicians and government officials. Many acts of the Lokayukta have resulted in criminal or other consequences for those charged. Maharashtra was the first state to introduce the institution of Lokayukta through The Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act in 1971. In another decision, the council of ministers approved a grant of Rs 323 crore for setting up additional 5625 CCTV cameras in Mumbai as part of the CCTV Surveillance Project. At present, 5,000 CCTVs are operational in different parts of the state capital, an official said. The Cabinet also decided to give 15 percent margin money, of the total cost of proposed business ventures, to those belonging to Scheduled Caste and other backward communities. The government also relaxed agriculture land holding ceiling for development of integrated township projects. In another decision, the title of the government land approved for industrial use can be changed by paying premium.