SC asks search committee on Lokpal to recommend names by Feb end
New Delhi, Jan 17: The Supreme Court Thursday fixed a February-end deadline for the search committee on Lokpal to recommend a panel of names for appointment of the country's first anti-graft ombudsman.
The search committee is headed by former apex court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi directed the Centre to provide the search committee requisite infrastructure and manpower to enable it to complete its work.
The bench, also comprising justices L N Rao and S K Kaul, said it would hear the matter again on March 7.
Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, told the bench there were certain problems like lack of infrastructure and manpower due to which the search committee was not able to hold deliberations on the issue.
The apex court had on January 4 directed the Centre to place on affidavit steps taken till date for Lokpal's appointment and expressed its displeasure over the tardy progress made in this regard.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Common Cause, which has been pursuing the issue of Lokpal, had said the government has not even made public the members of the search committee on its website.
The search committee will forward the names to the selection committee members comprising the prime minister, the leader of the single largest opposition party, the Lok Sabha speaker and an eminent jurist.
The top court had on July 24 last year rejected as "wholly unsatisfactory" the Centre's submission on the issue of setting up of a search committee for the Lokpal and demanded a "better affidavit".
The apex court was also told that the selection committee members comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the then CJI Dipak Misra, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and eminent jurist Mukul Rohatgi had met on July 19 last year to deliberate upon names for members of the search committee.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the leader of the largest opposition party, has been giving a go by to the meetings of the selection panel.
The top court on July 24 last year was told that the selection panel also took note that the search committee is to comprise a minimum of seven people, including chairperson, with experience in anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, policy making, finance including insurance and banking, law and management, etc.
The Centre on September 27, 2018 had constituted an eight-member search committee headed by Justice Desai to recommend names to the selection panel for appointment of a Lokpal.
Other members of the search committee are former chief of State Bank of India Arundhati Bhattacharya, Prasar Bharati chairperson A Surya Prakash, Indian Space Research Organisation head A S Kiran Kumar, former judge of Allahabad High Court Sakha Ram Singh Yadav, former Gujarat Police head Shabbir Hussain S Khandwawala, retired IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre Lalit K Panwar, and former Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar.
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Purported sleazy videos case: Action on suspended DGP after dept inquiry, says Home Minister
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Sunday said that the government will decide on further action against the now-suspended DGP K Ramachandra Rao based on recommendations following a departmental inquiry into a case concerning videos purportedly showing him behaving obscenely with women in his office.
The minister's comments followed reports that the special probe committee has ruled out Rao's claims that the clips were fake and AI-generated.
"After further departmental inquiry, whatever they recommend, the government will decide based on that. The department has to give a report to the government, and based on the recommendation made, we will take a decision," Parameshwara told reporters here in response to a question.
Since Rao claimed the circulating videos were fake AI creations, they were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), the minister said in response to a question.
"A team was formed in the department to find the truth. They have submitted a report to the department. The department will have to inform the government about the same, based on which further action will be taken," he added.
The state government had formed a team of four IPS officers, led by R Hitendra, Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order), to conduct a preliminary inquiry in the case.
The government in January suspended Rao, the 1993-batch IPS officer serving as the DGP, Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement (DCRE), after viral videos purportedly showing him acting in an obscene manner surfaced.
The videos purportedly show the 59-year-old hugging and kissing women while in office. He was wearing a police uniform in a few videos. Rao had, however, called the videos "fabricated" and vowed to take legal action.
There were even reports that the videos were shot in 2016-17 inside the office of the Inspector General of Police - Belagavi range.
