The meeting assumes significance in the wake of provisions in the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act which term any delay in taking action on matters related to the Lok Ayukta as `maladministration'.

Any action by the Lok Ayukta may put the Government in a spot as it is under constitutional obligation to provide all the facilities required by the Lok Ayukta.

With several proposals regarding the Establishment and Filing Rules of the State Lok Ayukta gathering dust, the agency has failed to take off in the envisaged fashion. Although a draft proposal detailing the rules and procedures for filing complaints along with the proposed structure and constitution of an investigation team to be attached to the Lok Ayukta was submitted to the Government much earlier, no action has been taken. Eventhough most of the complaints received by the Lok Ayukta call for immediate action, the absence of filing rules has reduced the powerful agency to the level of a complaint collection centre. The State Government has also reportedly axed the proposal for allotting adequate staff to the Lok Ayukta and the 14 posts cleared, including that of registrar and deputy registrar. Moreover, a few low-grade staff who have been appointed are inadequate for the agency's functioning, said sources.

The Act confers the status and position of a Chief Justice of a High Court to the Lok Ayukta and that of High Court judges to the Upa Lok Ayuktas, and thus, infrastructural facilities, including security personnel and personal staff are to be provided.

The Lok Ayukta is learnt to have demanded additional staff. It has also reportedly asked the Government to empower it as the appointing authority of staff.

The Government is also yet to finalise the terms and service conditions of the Lok Ayukta and the two Upa Lok Ayuktas,who were sworn in on December 27 1998, resulting in the non-payment of salaries and other allowances.

Meanwhile, the State Government is reportedly pondering over the idea of transferring the investigating team of the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to the Lok Ayukta in place of a separate investigation team as suggested by the draft proposal.