NEW DELHI: On a day when social activist Anna Hazare started an indefinite hunger strike demanding appointment of
Lokpal at the Centre, the Supreme Court on Friday sought explanation from 11 state governments for not setting up the anti-corruption watchdog,
Lokayukta, in their states.
A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R Banumathi granted two weeks’ time to the chief secretaries of 11 states—J&K, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh— to file affidavit explaining the reasons for not appointing Lokayukta and Uplokayukta in the last five years after the law was framed in 2013.
At the outset, the bench asked the petitioner
Ashwini Upadhayay, who is seeking the court’s direction for appointment of Lokpal and
Lokayuktas, as to how many states had implemented the law and appointed the anti-corruption watchdog. Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the petitioner, replied that he had not compiled the information as the state governments had not filed their response.
