New Delhi, March 17 (IANS): Former Supreme Court judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose was on Sunday recommended to be the first Lokpal or anti-corruption ombudsman of India.
His name was finalised and recommended by the Selection Committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and eminent jurist Mukul Rohatgi.
Ghose's appointment has come nearly five years after the Lokpal Act was notified on January 16, 2014.
The law provides for a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to probe cases of corruption against public servants.
The Supreme Court, hearing a PIL filed by NGO Common Cause, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, has been pushing the government to make the appointments. In its hearing on January 4, the apex court had asked the government to appoint a Lokpal at the earliest, saying "much time has elapsed, something needs to be done".
On January 17, the Supreme Court had pulled up the Centre for repeatedly delaying the appointment of the Lokpal. On March 7, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had asked the Modi government to inform the court within a fortnight by when it would finalise the names.
Delayed for some reason or the other, the search committee was constituted on September 27, 2018, after the Supreme Court's intervention and former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai was nominated to head it.
