Observing that the UP government had misled the court, the Supreme Court on Thursday recalled its December 16, 2015 order appointing Justice Virendra Singh (Retd) as state lokayukta.
A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Prafulla C. Pant passed this order on a writ petition challenging the appointment of Justice Singh on the ground that he was alleged to be corrupt and not suitable for the post.
The 2-judge bench named Justice Sanjay Misra, a retired judge of the Allahabad high court, as Uttar Pradesh’s lokayukta.
In making the lokayukta appointment, the bench said: “We have taken note of the fact that the name of Justice Sanjay Misra appears in the common list of names that were discussed, as mentioned in the letters of the Chief Justice of the high court and the chief minister.”
The Supreme Court bench directed that the consequential orders in terms of the above direction may be issued by the authority/functionary without delay, and compliance report be sent to the court’s registry within a week.
The bench said: “In the facts stated in the various records and correspondence, we are persuaded to hold that our order appointing Shri Justice Virendra Singh (Retd) as Lokayukta was on the basis of the statement made on behalf of the State of Uttar Pradesh, which now appears to be somewhat inaccurate. The picture that emanates from the above narration of facts is hazy, unclear and uncertain and we are left in serious doubt as to whether the constitutional/statutory functionaries or at least two of them had, at all, agreed on any name or names. It is unfortunate that constitutional/statutory functionaries, in spite of prolonged and extended meetings, continued to have serious differences on a relatively simple issue, i.e. appointment of the lokayukta.”
“However, we now have on record the subsequent reservation of the Chief Justice of the high court with regard to the suitability of Shri Justice Virendra Singh (Retd) as lokayukta as expressed in the Chief Justice’s letter dated 16th December 2015 to the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. We can only wish that the above reservation of the Chief Justice had been placed before us before we had passed our earlier order dated 16th December 2015, particularly when the high court was represented before us on the said date.”
