The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for the inordinate delay in the appointment of a lokayukta despite its order.
Taking a serious view of the inaction on the part of the authorities for the delay in the selection process, a bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and N.V. Ramana asked the UP government to come out with the names by Wednesday as to who are the persons being considered for appointment as lokayukta.
On December 4, the bench had issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against it for non-compliance of its order to appoint a new lokayukta in the state.
Earlier, Justice Mehrotra was appointed as lokayukta on March 16, 2006 for six years and later, the government granted him a two-year extension by amending the act under which the tenure was extended to eight years or till a successor took over.
On April 24, last year, the court had upheld the constitutional validity of amendment in the UP Lokayukta Act for fixing eight-year tenure for the anti-corruption ombudsman. However, the court had directed the state government to take steps for selecting new incumbent to succeed the lokayukta, Justice N.K. Mehrotra (Retd), within six months.
Subsequently, the court sought a reply from the state on a PIL filed by one Mahendra Kumar Jain seeking removal of the lokayukta.
Meanwhile, a contempt notice was also issued for non-compliance of last year’s order. The PIL has also sought to recover from the chief secretary’s salaries and other monetary emoluments given to Justice Mehrotra after the court-mandated deadline expired. The bench posted the matter for further hearing on December 16.
