Supreme Court pulls up Tamil Nadu, wants Lokayukta chosen by July 10

NEW DELHI/CHENNAI: The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Tamil Nadu government for failing to appoint a Lokayukta and directed it to do so before July 10. A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi rejected the TN chief secretary’s contention that the State was waiting for Centre to constitute a Lokpal and said, “The State government’s reply does not have legs to stand.”

Last month, the SC had directed the chief secretaries of 12 states to file reports explaining why they had not appointed Lokayuktas and to reply within two weeks as to what steps had been taken towards making the appointment.

Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi and West Bengal were asked to specify reason for non-appointment of Lokayukta, as mandated by  the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocate and Delhi BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.