Justice Ghose set to be country’s first Lokpal

NEWDELHI: Retired Supreme Court judge Pinaki Chandra Ghose is likely to be appointed the country’s first Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman, after a Prime Minister Narendra Modiled selection committee on Sunday agreed on his name, two officials with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Parliament passed the Lokpal Act in 2013, when the Congressled United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was in power. The law provides for a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to investigate cases of corruption against public servants.

“The competent authority will soon take a final decision on the name of justice Ghose for the chairperson, Lokpal, as recommended by the selection committee, and then the appointment will be formally announced,” an official said on the condition of anonymity. Justice Ghose, currently a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), retired as a Supreme Court judge in May 2017.

The PM, Lok Sabha Speaker, Chief Justice of India or his nominee, Leader of the Opposition, and an eminent jurist are the members of the Lokpal selection committee. As there is no designated Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha currently, the government had invited Kharge, the leader of the Congress legislature party in the House, to the meetings of the selection panel as a “special invitee”.

Kharge repeatedly turned down the government’s invite to attend the panel’s meetings, saying he could not accept the Opposition being made voiceless on a critical matter.

A second official said the selection committee’s decision on justice Ghose’s name for the post was in line with the Supreme Court’s March 7 directive to attorney general KK Venugopal to submit within 10 days the date of meeting of the PM-led selection committee on the Lokpal’s appointment. Other members in the selection panel are Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi. The selection committee’s decision was based on the recommendation of an eightmember search panel, chaired by justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, the two officials said. The search committee was constituted in September last year.