SC PULLS UP GOVT ON LOKPAL SEARCH

Unhappy with affidavit on July 19 meet, court asks for new timeline

Displeased over the Centre’s progress in appointing anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal, the SC on Tuesday directed the government to file a fresh affidavit, giving a timeline for appointing India’s first Lokpal. Examining the affidavit filed by the Centre providing details of the July 19 meeting of the Prime Minister-led committee to appoint the search panel which will find the Lokpal, a three-judge bench led by Justice Gogoi said the affidavit was not in compliance of its earlier orders.

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 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. Common Cause has filed a contempt petition against the government for violating top court’s April 27 verdict saying there was no justification in keeping the Lokpal Act suspended till the amendments to the law were cleared by the Parliament.

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