1. This Writ Petition under Art.226 of the Constitution at the instance of the State of Kerala and its officers impugns an'order' of the Kerala Lok Ayukta dated 9th October, 2001 in Complaint No. 546 of 2001 before him.

2. It is necessary to recite some factual background in order to appreciate the grievance that had arisen before the Lok Ayukta, the manner in which the Lok Ayukta dealt with it and the jurisdiction of the Lok Ayukta under the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act, 1999 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act")

3. Prior to 15.11.1998, an Act by name Kerala Public Men's Corruption (Investigations and Inquiries) Act, 1987 was in force in the State of Kerala. The main object of this Act was elimination of corruption in public offices. With this in mind, the Act provided an elaborate machinery to investigate and enquire into such cases. That corruption in public office or amongst public men is becoming more and more rampant is a fact of which judicial notice can be taken. That it requires effective measures to combat the evil, the Legislature realised, and enacted the present Act to deal with the evil of corruption.

4. The Act was put on the statute book "to make provision for the appointment and functions of certain authorities for making enquiries into any action (including any omission and commission in connection with or arising out of such action) relatable to matters specified in List II or List III of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India taken by or on behalf of the Government of Kerala or certain public authorities in the State of Kerala in certain cases and for matters connected therewith or ancillary thereto", as stated in the Preamble to the Act. In order to understand the scheme of the Act, it is necessary to refer to some of the salient provisions of the Act.

(a) Under the defining S.2, the expressions 'action', 'allegation', 'grievance' and 'mal administration are respectively defined in sub-ss. (a), (b), (h) and (k) as under:

"(a) 'action' means any action including administrative action taken by way of decision, recommendation or finding or in any other manner and includes wilful failure or omission to act and all other expressions relating to such action shall be construed accordingly.

(b) 'allegation', in relation to a public servant, means any affirmation that such public servant,

(i) has abused his position as such public servant to obtain any gain or favour to himself or to any other person or to cause undue harm or hardship to any other person;

(ii) was actuated in the discharge of his functions as such public servant by personal interest or improper or corrupt motives; or

(iii) is guilty of corruption, favouritism, nepotism or lack of integrity in his capacity as such public servant.

(h) 'grievance' means a claim by a person that he sustained injustice or undue hardship in consequence of mal-administration;

(k) 'mal-administration' means action taken or purporting to have been taken in the exercise of administrative functions in any case where

(i) such action or the administrative procedure or practice adopted in such action in

unreasonable, unjust, oppressive or improperly discriminatory; or

(ii) there has been wilful negligence or undue delay in taking such action or the administrative procedure or practice adopted in such action involves undue delay".

(b) S. 7 of the Act provides for matters which are to be investigated by the Lok Ayukta and Upa Lok Ayuktas. Sub-s. (1) empowers the Lok Ayukta and one of the Upa Lok Ayuktas to investigate any action taken by or with the general or specific approval of the Chief Minister, or a Minister, or a Member of the State Legislature, or a Secretary, or an office bearer of a political party at the State level, or an officer referred to in sub-clause (iii) of clause (d) of S.2, where a complaint involving a 'grievance' or an 'allegation' is made in respect of such action. In case of difference of opinion between the Lok Ayukta and the Upa Lok Ayukta, the acti