Can’t appoint Lokpal without amending law, Govt tells SC

NEW DELHI: The NDA government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it wasn’t possible to go ahead with the appointment of Lokpal at present because of legal complications that made it difficult to institute the country’s first anti-corruption ombudsman.

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 28

The NDA government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it wasn’t possible to go ahead with the appointment of Lokpal at present because of legal complications that made it difficult to institute the country’s first anti-corruption ombudsman.

During hearing on petitions seeking direction to the government to appoint Lokpal, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the top court that Lokpal cannot be appointed in the current scenario as amendments regarding definition of the Leader of Opposition in the Lokpal Act were pending in Parliament. The Judiciary can’t dictate the Legislature on this issue, he said.

“Unless the proposed amendment making leader of the largest Opposition party as the Leader of Opposition is passed by Parliament, the Lokpal can’t be appointed,” Rohatgi said.

On behalf of Common Cause, one of the petitioners, senior advocate Shanti Bhushan accused the government of deliberately not appointing Lokpal despite the law having come into effect. He pointed out that the Act mandated expeditious appointment of Lokpal.

After hearing both the sides, a Bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi reserved its verdict on the issue.

Enacted in December 2013, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act aims at creating a system of anti-corruption watchdog in India.

The law came into force from January 16, 2014, but appointment process got stalled as search panel members, including jurist Fali Nariman, quit.

It requires Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha to be member of the selection panel but there is no designated leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha as the Congress does not have the required numbers.

The government introduced an amendment to the law to address the issue but the amendment Bill also proposed many other changes on which there has been no political consensus.

In December last year, the top court had indicated that if the legal problem took too long to get solved, it would order inclusion of the leader of the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha in the selection panel.