Govt seeks applications for Lokpal chief and members

New Delhi: The Search Committee for Lokpal

has invited applications/nominations for preparation

of a panel of names for

consideration by Selection Committee as appointment as Chairperson and members of Lokpal.

The Committee is headed by the former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and the move comes following the apex court's direction over a fixed deadline earlier last month.

"The eligibility criteria

and application/nomination form can be accessed through the website of the Department of Personnel and Training

viz http://dopt.gov.in under the link "Lokpal": Link: https://dopt.gov.in/sites/default/files/Lokpal-Advertisement.pdf," the Ministry for Home Affairs announced on Wednesday.

As the Chairperson, the applicant must have been a Chief Justice of India, or a judge of Supreme Court or an eminent person having special knowledge and expertise of not less than twenty-five years in the matters of anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance, law and management.

To be eligible for appointment as Judicial Member of Lokpal, the applicant must have been a judge of Supreme Court or a Chief Justice of High Court.

Eminent persons having special knowledge and expertise of not less than twenty-five years in the matters of anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance, law and management are eligible to be appointed as other members of Lokpal.

The last date of submission of the applications/nominations is 22nd February 2019 – 05.00 PM. "The same may be addressed to the Chairperson, Search Committee

for the appointment of Chairperson and Members of the Lokpal at Post Box No. 12, GPO, New Delhi – 110001 or may be forwarded by e-mail at the following id lokpal.

[email protected] latest by 22nd February at 05.00 PM. The date/time stamp of the application/nomination at the receiving end will be treated as final for the purpose," the ministry official statement mentioned.

The term "Lokpal" was coined by L.M.Singhvi in 1963. The concept of a constitutional ombudsman was first proposed in parliament by Law

Minister Ashoke Kumar

Sen in the early 1960s. The first Jan Lokpal Bill was

proposed by Shanti Bhushan in 1968 and passed in the 4th

Lok Sabha in 1969, however, did not pass through the

Rajya Sabha. Subsequently, 'Lokpal bills' were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, again by Ashoke Kumar Sen, former Law Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet,

and again in 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008, yet they were never passed. Forty-five years after its first introduction, the Lokpal Bill is finally enacted in India on 18 December 2013.

The Lokpal Bill provides

for the filing of complaints of corruption against the Prime Minister, other ministers,

and MPs.