Bringing the curtains down on a prolonged controversy, which featured a heated standoff between Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Governor Ram Naik, Uttar Pradesh finally has a new anti-corruption ombudsman. Justice (retd.) Virendra Singh was appointed the new Lokayukta on Friday. The 66-year-old former Allahabad High Court judge will take oath on Sunday.
After the Supreme Court on Wednesday invoked extraordinary powers to appoint Justice Singh as the new Lokayukta, Mr. Yadav had sent the appointment file to the Governor for his approval. The Governor is understood to have returned it on Thursday evening citing that the order of the apex court was not attached. After receiving a copy of the SC order, Mr. Naik gave his approval, a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said here on Friday.
Justice Singh, who belongs to the Yadav community, served in the Allahabad High Court from 2009 to 2011. He is considered close to Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh’s family and was said to be the preferred choice of the Chief Minister.
A graduate of Meerut University, Justice Singh was appointed to the PCS in 1977 and was promoted in the Higher Judicial Service in 1989. In 2005, he was elevated as a District and Sessions Judge and four years later, he was promoted as Additional Judge. In 2010, he took oath as a permanent judge. Lawyers in Allahabad High Court say they remember his tenure as non-controversial. In November 2012, after the SP came to power, Justice Singh was appointed the Chairman of the U.P. Consumer Forum.
The outgoing Lokayukta, N.K. Mehrotra, was in office for nine years, the longest by any ombudsman in the country. He also entered the Limca Book of Records for producing the most effective Lokayukta reports in the shortest duration.
Even after the SC exercised its constitutional powers to end the logjam, which has proven to be an embarrassment for the Samajwadi Party government, the matter refused to die down. Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was apparently upset with the appointment and on Thursday shot off a letter to Mr. Naik expressing displeasure at the way the government had sent a list of candidates to the SC without his consultation.
In a 50-page letter, Justice Chandrachud said that he was kept in the dark by the State and despite assurances by the CM that the name of Justice (retd.) Singh would not be included, it was done.
Justice Chandrachud, Mr. Yadav and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Swami Prasad Maurya had formed a committee to shortlist a name for the new Lokayukta.
Even before the panel could finalise a name, the State government sent a list of five names to the SC, which selected Justice Singh.
Published - December 18, 2015 04:50 pm IST
