Lokpal

committee can be substituted with the leader of the single largest party in the Opposition.

Responding to the PILS filed by NGOS Common Cause and Youth For Equality, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had earlier told the bench that the Act was being amended to make the necessary substitution. He said the Lokpal selection process would begin when the amendment is passed by Parliament.

But senior lawyer Shanti Bhushan and advocate Gopal Sankaranarayana, who represented the NGOS, had claimed that the government was delaying the amendment since it did not want a Lokpal. They said the government had already amended various otherstatutes,includingthoseforselection of Chief Vigilance Commissioner, CBI chief and Chief Information Commissioner, to make the change with regard to Leader of Opposition.

In December, the apex court had asked the government whether it would make the change on its own, or if it should read down the Lokpal Act to give a place to the leader of the single largest opposition party in the selection committee. The court had observed that it would not let the Lokpal become “a dead letter” or “redundant”.