UP’s Lokayukta saga: How not to appoint a Lokayukta

READ | Supreme Court recalls order appointing former judge Virendra Singh as UP Lokayukta

The saga of the appointment in the Lokayukta is a lesson in how not to appoint a Lokayukta. The appointment process had been controversial since 2012 and eventually reached the Supreme Court in 2014.

In 2012 when the Samajwadi Party formed the government in UP, it decided to extend the tenure of the sitting Lokayukta Justice N K Mehrotra from six years to eight years and sent an ordinance amending the UP Lokayukta and UP Lokayukta Act, 1975 to the then Governor B L Joshi. He did not clear it.

Later, a retrospective amendment was made by which the deed was done allowing the Lokayukta to continue till a successor had been appointed. Hence, Mehrotra completed nearly 10 years in office as he was appointed on 16 March, 2006. In April 2014, the Supreme Court upheld the amendment but asked the state government to look for a replacement. Following this, the state government sent the name of Justice (retired) Ravindra Singh to Governor Naik for appointment as Lokayukta in August 2015.

From then onwards the issue was mired in controversies. Governor Naik sought details of the communication between member of the selection committee – CM Akhilesh Yadav, leader of Opposition Swami Prasad Maurya and Chief Justice Chandrachud of the Allahabad High Court. After this it emerged that the Chief Justice had objected to Justice Ravindra Singh’s nomination citing his political affiliations with the SP. His name was thus rejected by the governor on 25 August 2015.

The process to select the Lokayukta began afresh but the state government then brought in an amendment in the state assembly on August 28 removing the clause that required the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to be a member of the selection committee. This bill is also pending with the governor.

A meeting of the selection committee was held in September in the presence of CJ and nearly 50 names of retired judges were considered. A few more meetings took place inconclusively and the deadline set by the Supreme Court was missed at least thrice but no consensus could be reached on appointment of Lokayukta. Finally, the apex court invoked constitutional powers and appointed Justice Virendra Singh as new Lokayukta on December 16 from a panel of five names.

The controversy, however, did not end there: Chief Justice Chandrachud again wrote a letter to Governor Ram Naik expressing his displeasure that the state government had included the name of Justice Virendra Singh in the panel of names despite his objections. The governor forwarded the letter to both the CM and leader of the Opposition.

Once again, the Supreme Court intervened and put its own order appointing Justice Virendra Singh on hold and later recalling it. Now, the appointment of Justice Sanjay Mishra as new Lokayukta has ended a sorry chapter in the state’s selection process.