SC not happy with Centre’s response on Lokpal issue
Unhappy with affidavit on July 19 meet, court asks for new timeline
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction over the Centre’s response on appointment of search committee members for a Lokpal. A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi, R Banumathi and Navin Sinha asked the Centre to file a fresh affidavit giving relevant details of the search committee.
NEW DELHI: Displeased over the Centre’s progress in appointing anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the government to file a fresh affidavit with a timeline for appointing India’s first Lokpal.
On July 19, a committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met to appoint the search panel which will find the Lokpal. With the Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge staying away — he wasn’t invited as the leader of the opposition because there is no leader of opposition in the House — like he has from previous meetings, the committee decided to go ahead and appoint the members. The other members of the committee are Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and eminent jurist Mukul Rohatgi .
Examining the affidavit filed by Centre providing details of the July 19 meeting, a three-judge bench led by Justice Gogoi said it was not in compliance with the court’s earlier orders.
“We are not satisfied with this,” Justice Gogoi told attorney general KK Venugopal when he placed the affidavit before the bench. Venugopal informed the bench that the panel had met but names of the search committee had not been finalised.
“We have perused the affidavit dated 23rd July, 2018 filed by Shri C Chandramouli, secretary (personnel), ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions, DoPT. After perusing the affidavit all that we are inclined to record at this stage is that we find the said affidavit to be wholly unsatisfactory. We, therefore, do not accept the same and direct the
EXAMINING AFFIDAVIT FILED BY CENTRE PROVIDING DETAILS OF THE JULY 19 MEETING, A THREEJUDGE BENCH SAID IT WAS NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE COURT’S ORDERS
concerned authority to file a better affidavit giving full particulars within a period of four weeks from today (Tuesday),” the court ordered.
When Venugopal requested the court to indicate the nature of particulars it wanted , the bench said: “We do not feel the necessity of recording any observations/ directions to the said effect as the competent authority should not have any difficulty to appreciate and understand the nature of the particulars that are required to be laid before the court.”
On July 17, the court had expressed its “optimism” that the search committee would be constituted in the July 19 meeting.
It had also expected the government to spell out a time frame for shortlisting the names.
But the affidavit contained none of these details. Venugopal said the Lokpal appointment’s was a complicated process and another meeting of the committee would be held soon. As per the affidavit, the committee members took time to propose names for the search panel and agreed to meet again on a date that would be convenient to everybody. However, no date was mentioned. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO Common Cause, accused the Centre of delaying the appointment despite there being a law, notified five years ago.