Monday, 4 January 2016

UP Lokayukta: Swearing-in stay extended

The Supreme Court on Monday extended till January 19 its interim order restraining the Uttar Pradesh government from going ahead with the swearing-in of Justice (Retd) Virendra Singh as lokayukta of the state. Hours before Justice Singh was to take charge, the SC had in an emergency meeting on December 19 asked the state to defer the oath-taking ceremony after it was alleged that the Akhilesh Yadav government played “fraud“ with the court by recommending his name despite stiff opposition from the chief justice of Allahabad HC. A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said the controversy on the appointment of lokayukta would be adjudicated by a bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, which had appointed Justice Singh as head of the anti-corruption watchdog after the UP government failed to appoint lokayukta despite its repeated orders.
Selection of lokayukta is done by a high-powered committee comprising the chief minister, chief justice of HC and the leader of opposition and the appointment is done by the governor. The SC had on December 16 appointed Justice Singh after the state failed to appoint lokayukta during the last 19 months.The court picked up the name of Justice Singh out of five names, purportedly cleared by the committee.

Sources: TNN

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