New Delhi: The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that the government has initiated the process of appointment of Lokpal, ‘anti-corruption Ombudsman’, with a meeting, headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be held on March 1 for selecting the Lokpal.
Attorney General KK Venugopal made this submission before a bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R Banumathi hearing a contempt petition filed by Common Cause through advocate Prashant Bhushan for not implementing the April 2017 verdict of the apex court in appointing the Lokpal.
The AG told the court that the appointment has been delayed since the enactment of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act in 2014. The meeting of the selection panel comprising the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, Lok Sabha Speaker and leader of the largest party in opposition is fixed for March 1.
He also said that the delay of the selection panel was due to the death of senior lawyer PP Rao, who was also one of the members in the panel, in September 2017.
Accepting the submission of the AG, the bench directed the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) to file affidavit in this regard by March 5 and posted the matter for further hearing on March 6.
In April 2017, the apex court acting on a writ petition filed by Common Cause asked the Centre to set up the ‘anti-corruption ombudsman’ Lokpal under the 2013 law without waiting for parliament approval of the standing committee’s suggestion for amending the law to include leader of single largest party in the place of LoP to be part of the search committee.
The court held that the Lokpal Act as it stands today is an eminently workable piece of legislation and there is no justification to keep the enforcement of the Act under suspension till the amendments, as proposed, are carried out.
The court had rejected the Centre’s submission that the law cannot be implemented in the absence of LoP and without amending the law.
It said if, at present, the LoP is not available, surely, the Chairperson and the other two Members of the Selection Committee, namely, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India or his nominee may proceed to appoint an eminent jurist as a Member of the Selection Committee.
As the order was not implemented, Common Cause moved the court for contempt and in this petition, the AG made the submission about the meeting to be held on March 1. The Bench posted the matter for further hearing on March 6.
