The Supreme Court, in an urgent sitting on Saturday, recorded an undertaking from the UP government that the swearing-in of Justice Virendra Singh (Retd) as the new lokayukta by the governor on Sunday will be deferred.
A vacation bench of Justices A.G. Goel and Uday Lalit passed this order on a fresh writ petition filed by Sachchidanand Gupta challenging the appointment of Justice Singh. UP government counsel Gaurav Bhatia told the bench that the swearing-in will not take place on Sunday. A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and N.V. Ramana will hear the case on January 4.
On December 16, the SC bench appointed Justice Singh as the lokayukta, replacing the incumbent Justice N.K. Mehrotra (Retd). The court had expressed its displeasure over the inordinate delay and pulled up the constitutional authorities, viz. the state CM and the Allahabad HC chief justice, for their inaction and failure to comply with its orders.
