Supreme Court sets deadline for Lokpal appointment

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday requested the search committee on Lokpal to recommend by the end of February a panel of names for appointing the country's first anti-graft ombudsman.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the Centre to make available requisite infrastructure, manpower, secretarial assistance and others to enable the committee, which is headed by former apex court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, to commence its work immediately and conclude it within the time frame.

The bench, also comprising justices L N Rao and S K Kaul, ordered this after Attorney General K K Venugopal apprised the court that due to certain difficulties like lack of office space, infrastructure, manpower and secretariat, "possibly, the search committee has felt handicapped in convening its meetings and in holding its deliberations".

It also noted in its order that the eight-member committee, which was constituted by a government notification of September 27 last year, had not undertaken any deliberations till January 16 and a meeting was held only Wednesday.

"We do not wish to comment on the said aspect of the matter. Instead, we deem it appropriate to request the search committee to commence and complete its deliberations and recommend a panel as required under Rule 11 of the Search Committee (Constitution, Terms and Conditions of Appointment of Members and the Manner of Selection of Panel of Names for Appointment of Chairperson and Members of Lokpal) Rules, 2014 by the end of February 2019," the bench said in its order.

The court has posted the matter for further hearing on March 7. "The government of India is directed to make available requisite infrastructure, man-power, secretarial assistance, etc. to enable the search committee to commence its working immediately and conclude the same within the time frame fixed by the court," the bench said.

The court was hearing a contempt petition filed by NGO Common Cause which has raised the issue of non-appointment of Lokpal despite the apex court's judgement of April 27, 2017. The search committee will forward the names to the selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India or his nominee, Lok Sabha Speaker, the leader of the largest opposition party and an eminent jurist.

The other members of the search committee are former chief of State Bank of India Arundhati Bhattacharya, Prasar Bharati chairperson A Surya Prakash, Indian Space Research Organisation head A S Kiran Kumar, former judge of Allahabad High Court Sakha Ram Singh Yadav, former
Gujarat Police head Shabbirhusein S Khandwawala, retired IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre Lalit K Panwar, and former Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar.

During the hearing on Thursday, Venugopal told the court that the search committee had held a meeting on Wednesday and they were facing some problems like lack of office space and manpower. "We (government) are trying to solve them (problems).

We are looking at it and see what can be done as quickly as possible," Venugopal said, adding that there was no problem of funds and Rs 4.39 crore has already been allocated. To this, the CJI asked, "Has the selection committee fixed any time frame for the search committee for recommending the panel of names?" The CJI, while referring to the composition of selection committee, told Venugopal, "All the members of the selection committee are by designation. Only for the CJI, there is provision of designating a nominee.

Nobody else can appoint a nominee except the CJI." On January 4, the apex court had directed the Centre to place on affidavit the steps for Lokpal's appointment and expressed its displeasure over the tardy progress made in this regard. It had asked the attorney general to file an affidavit explaining in detail the various steps, including setting up of a search committee by the competent authority for recommending names for the appointment.

The top court had on July 24 last year rejected as "wholly unsatisfactory" the Centre's submission on the issue of setting up of a search committee for Lokpal and demanded a "better affidavit". It was also told that the selection committee had met on July 19 last year to deliberate upon names for members of the search committee.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the leader of the largest opposition party, has been giving a go by to the meetings of the selection panel. The top court was earlier told that the selection panel also took note that the search committee is to comprise a minimum of seven people, including chairperson, with experience in anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, policy making, finance including insurance and banking, law and management, etc.