Doing ‘our best’, will appoint Lokayukta soon: UP govt

The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday said it was doing “its best” to appoint a new Lokayukta as soon as possible, hours after Supreme Court cracked the whip on the state government for not appointing the anti-corruption ombudsman even after its earlier directions.

Senior government officials on Monday went into a huddle here after the apex court’s direction to the UP government to appoint a new Lokayukta within two days. “The state government is doing all its best to appoint a new Lokayukta as early as possible,” an official spokesman said.

They also said that senior officials were going through Monday’s order.

A tug of war is being witnessed between the state government and Governor Ram Naik for the last several months over the appointment of a new anti-corruption ombudsman after justice (retd) NK Mehrotra. 

In August this year, the Governor had returned a file recommending Justice (retd) Raveendra Singh's name to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for the third time.

A Raj Bhawan communique had said the Governor returned the file asking the state government to follow proper procedure for the appointment.

It had said that Leader of the Opposition Swami Parsad Maurya wrote to the Governor informing him that the three members of the selection committee ­ the Chief Minister, Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly – never met to decide the name of the Lokayukta.

The state government officially recommended Singh’s name on August 5. The file has since gone back and forth thrice.

Naik has made it clear he will not give his assent until the name is cleared in a meeting of the selection committee.

He has also recommended that the selection committee first consider a panel of names rather than directly take an opinion on just one name.

The Supreme Court had issued notice to the state government on December 4, asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against it for non-compliance of its order to appoint a new Lokayukta in the state. A Bench comprising justices Ranjan Gogoi and NV Ramana had sought response from the state on a fresh contempt petition alleging that despite apex court’s orders to find a suitable replacement of current Lukayukta, no appointment has been made so far.