Nearly 19 months after he retired as a Supreme Court judge, Justice A M Khanwilkar was appointed the chairperson of the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal on Tuesday. The post fell vacant nearly two years ago. “President Droupadi Murmu is pleased to appoint Justice Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar as the chairperson of the Lokpal,” a statement released by Rashtrapati Bhavan said. Justice Khanwilkar had a six-year tenure as an SC judge. In his last year, he authored a series of crucial verdicts that validated the state’s sweeping powers against citizens in special legislations — the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act. He retired in July 2022. The government has also appointed six members, including three judicial members, to the Lokpal. Former Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Lingappa Narayana Swamy, former Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Sanjay Yadav and former Karnataka High Court Chief Justice and Law Commission Chairperson Ritu Raj Awasthi are judicial members; non-judicial members include former Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, former Chief Secretary of Gujarat Pankaj Kumar and former Rural Development Secretary Ajay Tirkey. The Lokpal chairperson and the members are appointed for a term of five years or serve till they are 70 years old, whichever is earlier. The first Lokpal chairperson was former Supreme Court Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, who had assumed office in March 2019. Since his retirement in May 2022, former Jharkhand HC Chief Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty has been the acting Lokpal chairperson. Justice Awasthi was appointed the chairperson of the 22nd Law Commission in November 2022. The panel's tenure ends in August 2024. During his tenure, the panel submitted a key report in support of retaining sedition as a criminal offence. The Indian Express has reported that the Justice Awasthi-led panel also finalised a report favouring the idea of one-nation, one-election. Sushil Chandra, a retired IRS (Income Tax) officer of 1980 batch served as the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes before being appointed as an Election Commissioner in February 2019, and later the CEC from April 2021 to May 2022. As EC, Chandra was a part of the panel, along with then CEC Sunil Arora, which gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi a clean chit in Model Code of Conduct violation matters in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, over the objections of then EC Ashok Lavasa. Justice Swamy was originally a judge of the Karnataka High Court. For a brief period of five months, he held the office of Acting Chief Justice of Karnataka HC in 2019. Justice Yadav, whose parent HC is the Madhya Pradesh High Court, had a tenure of just 13 days as Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court in June 2021. During his tenure as CJ, when the Uttar Pradesh ordinance on anti-conversion had been passed as a law, Justice Yadav had refused permission to the petitioners to amend their pleas. Tirkey, a 1987-batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS (retd) officer, superannuated as Secretary, Department of Land Resource, Ministry of Rural Development on December 31, 2023. He has served in various ministries, including women and child development and defence. Pankaj Kumar, a 1986-batch IAS officer was chief secretary of Gujarat from August 2021 to January 2023. A civil engineer from IIT- Kanpur, Kumar was at the helm during the Covid 19 pandemic, and was given an extension in May 2022. Kumar had served as Additional Principal Secretary in the Chief Minister's Office from 2004-2008 when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister.
