The country's first Lokpal is a victory for the Supreme Court.
The swearing in of former Supreme Court judge, Justice P.C. Ghose as the first Lokpal Chairman on Saturday is the outcome of years of dogged litigation by NGO Common Cause, the apex court's own judgment in April 2017 and, finally, the contempt of court proceedings initiated against the government for its inability to implement the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act of 2013. The top court has consistently kept up the pressure on the government every step of the way.
The past years have seen the government stall the appointment of the anti-corruption ombudsman for various reasons, chief among those was the absence of a Leader of Opposition (LoP) in 16th Lok Sabha. This loophole was overcome on April 24, 2017 when the Supreme Court declared that absence of a member of the high-level Lokpal selection committee chaired by the Prime Minister would not invalidate an appointment.
Controversy had hit Lokpal appointment as early as in March 2014 when former Supreme Court judge, Justice K.T. Thomas, opted out of the search committee formed to shortlist names for Lokpal. Justice Thomas objected to the search committee being bound to shortlist candidates only from a list provided by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Senior advocate Fali Nariman too turned down the post of a panel member for the same reason.
In September 2014, the NDA government did a course correction by amending the Rules and provided the search committee complete autonomy. But the government continued to stick to its stance that it would be better to wait till the Parliament amends the Lokpal law to replace the LoP with the Leader of the single largest Opposition party.
On November 23, 2016, the Supreme Court slammed the government for “dragging its feet”. “The Lokpal law was the result of a great struggle for probity,” then Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur said addressing the government’s reluctance.
The court pointed out that the LoP has been replaced with the Leader of the single largest Opposition party in the House for appointments to other high-integrity institutions. The court even proposed an ordinance.
On April 24, 2017, a Bench led by Justice Ranjan Gogoi held that India should honour its credo of 'zero tolerance against corruption'. Its judgment asserted that Lokpal appointments would not become void because of an ‘absent’ LoP.
But the judgment failed to catalyse the government. Soon, Common Cause, represented by senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, was back in the Supreme Court with a contempt plea. The wheels started turning with the appointment of former Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi, who had represented the government in the Lokpal case in the apex court.
However, the government continued to delay the constitution of a search committee, saying the process was “complicated”. The court responded by calling the government’s stand “wholly unsatisfactory”. On January 4, 2019, Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal finally informed the court that a Lokpal search committee led by former Supreme Court judge, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, has been constituted.
The Supreme Court on January 17 gave the search committee time till February-end to send names of suitable Lokpal candidates to the selection committee. On March 7, Mr. Venugopal informed the court that the names have been forwarded to the selection committee and the contempt proceedings should be closed.
The court had disagreed, instead, asking the Attorney-Genera; to inform within 10 days "the possible date" of convening of the selection committee to finalise the names for constitution of Lokpal. The court had then listed the case after 10 days.