9 States, UT to appoint Lokayukta at earliest

With nine States and Union Territory of Puducherry still to appoint a Lokayukta, the Supreme Court has set a deadline of July 10 for the defaulting regimes to submit compliance by appointing the anti-corruption ombudsman expeditiously.

The bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R Banumathi failed to see any reason in the long list of excuses produced by the counsels appearing for the States/UTs who were directed by the Court on March 23 to appear and submit reasons for not appointing Lokayukta as per the mandate required under Section 63 of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013. The issue of delay by States/UTs was highlighted by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay in a PIL filed by him.

The States asked to fall in line include Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal, Telangana, Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, besides the UT of Puducherry. In respect of three States, namely Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Manipur, the court directed the Chief Secretary to file affidavit of compliance. The State of Tripura informed the court that a former judge of Calcutta High Court was appointed as Lokayukta for a three-year term beginning April 27, 2017.

Hearing the erring States individually, the Bench noted that while some States had shown some compliance by taking steps for appointing Lokayukta, there were others who made lame excuses to cover their inaction. For instance, Tamil Nadu informed the court that the State was awaiting the establishment of a Lokpal at the Centre and would appoint Lokayukta only then in order to avoid repugnancy with the Central Act. In the alternate, the State argued that for the present, the work of the Lokayukta is being carried out by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Directorate of the Government of Tamil Nadu that has an Inquiry Wing and Prosecution Wing, as envisaged under the 2013 Act.

The Bench observed, “We do not see what relevance the constitution of the Vigilance Commisson and its functioning would have on the necessity of having the institution of Lokayukta…stand taken by Tamil Nadu with regard to establishment of institution of Lokayukta (pending appointment of Lokpal at Centre) is not acceptable.”

In the case of Odisha, the Bench noted that despite the Odisha Lokayukta Act 2014 being in force since January 16, 2015, steps for framing Odisha Search Committee Rules are still underway. The post of Lokayukta has remained vacant since January 22, 2013. The Bench directed, “the State shall take immediate steps for appointment of Lokayukta which process shall be completed at the earliest.” In West Bengal too, the judges were critical of the State’s stand to keep the post of Lokayukta vacant pending review of provisions of the West Bengal Lokayukta Act 2003 and directed State to ensure compliance before July 10.

The States of Telangana, Mizoram, and Meghalaya submitted that the process of Lokayukta appointment will be over by July 1 this year. Nagaland recently enacted the Nagaland Lokayukta Act that came into force on January 31, 2018. The States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, J&K and UT of Puducherry were directed to appoint Lokayukta at the earliest.