Former SC judge Pinaki Ghose tipped to be 1st Lokpal PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Retired Supreme Court (SC) judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose is said to be in active consideration for appointment as the country’s first Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman, officials said Sunday. Justice Ghose, 66, retired as SC judge in May 2017. He is a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) since June 29, 2017. His name for the post is understood to have been in active consideration by the Lokpal selection panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials said, without citing further details. There was no official announcement of his appointment by the government.

His appointment, if made, may trigger a political storm as Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had boycotted the selection panel’s meet on Friday.

The law, which envisages appointment of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed on 2013.

The development comes a week after the SC asked Attorney General K K Venugopal to inform it within 10 days about a possible date for meeting of the selection committee.

A Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S A Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna was on March 7 informed by Venugopal that the Lokpal search committee headed by former apex court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai has recommended three panels of names to the selection committee for appointment of chairperson, judicial and non-judicial members in the anti-graft body.