UP lokayukta recall plea: Supreme Court reserves order

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on petitions seeking recall of the order appointing Justice Virendra Singh, former judge of Allahabad high court, as the Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh.

A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and P.C. Pant observed that the UP government had misled it to appoint Justice Virendra Singh last month. The bench, however, made it clear that Justice Singh would continue as Lokayukta unless its order was proved to be wrong to the extent of “shocking our conscience”.

Appearing for the high court, senior counsel T.R. Andhyarujina informed the bench that the state government had withheld the fact that the appointment panel comprising the chief minister, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and the HC Chief Justice had decided to drop the name of Justice Singh from the list of five probable candidates at the instance of the CJ. The CJ had expressed doubts over the integrity of Justice Singh, counsel said.

The bench observed that the committee had failed to arrive at a consensus on the Lokayukta appointment for 20 months since the deadline set by this court in April 2014 which had resulted in the incumbent continuing for 10 years in the post. “That was why we took the unprecedented step of taking upon ourselves the task of appointing the Lokayukta,” the bench said. Subsequent to the appointment, Justice Singh did not take oath as the matter was sub judice.

Appearing for one of the petitioners, Sachchidanand Gupta, advocate Prashant Bhushan urged the apex court to recall the appointment order as the CJ had received serious complaints against Justice Singh who had been appointed as chairman of the state consumer redressal forum in November 2012. “It is risky and inadvisable to let Justice Singh continue as Lokayukta,” he argued.

The HC Chief Justice had written a letter to governor Ram Naik expressing his displeasure with the state government for not disclosing the facts that he had some reservations about Justice Singh’s name. The bench observed, “If we agree that Justice Virendra Singh’s appointment is not appropriate, we will recall. Leave it to us. We will pass appropriate orders. But unless there are shocking and compelling reasons, we will not change our order appointing Justice Virendra Singh.”

Justice Singh was appointed as Lokayukta after the UP government informed the court that there was consensus on his name.

The court asked the counsel to provide evidence that Justice Virendra Singh lacked integrity. Counsel for the UP government blamed the state governor for leaking to the media the letters written by the CJ.

The petition said it was filed against the arbitrary and unlawful conduct of the state government in actively concealing true facts from this court by providing the name of a candidate whose name had already been removed from the list of proposed candidates by the chief minister upon reservation being expressed by the Chief Justice. It was on the basis of the said incorrect submissions by the state government that this court appointed Justice Singh, it said, and sought quashing of the appointment.