Why no Lokayuktas, Supreme Court asks 11 states

The Supreme Court on Friday directed chief secretaries of 11 states to explain in two weeks why they have not appointed Lokayukta and Uplokayukta, despite the enactment of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.

A bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and R Banumathi also asked the Odisha chief secretary to apprise the court on whether the office of the Lokayuka/Uplokayukta in the state was functional.

Taking up a PIL by Delhi BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, the bench said it appeared that Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh have not appointed Lokpal, Lokayukta or Uplokayukta.

"The chief secretaries of the aforesaid 11 states shall inform the court within two weeks as to whether steps have been taken for appointment of Lokyukta/Uplokayukta and if so the stage thereof. The reasons for non-appointment of Lokayukta/Uplokayukta in the aforesaid states be also laid before the court in the aforesaid affidavit(s) to be filed by the chief secretaries," the bench said.

The apex court also asked the 11 states to specify the time period by which they would appoint a Lokayukta as mandated under the law.

The petitioner sought a direction to the states to provide adequate budgetary allocation and essential infrastructure for effective functioning of Lokayuktas.

He relied on Section 63 of the 2013 act, which stated that every state shall establish a body to be known as the Lokayukta.