The UP govt had failed to meet the Supreme Court deadline to appoint the Lokayukta even after two rounds of marathon talks
New Delhi/Lucknow : Invoking its constitutional powers, the Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed a former high court judge, Justice Virendra Singh, as Uttar Pradesh’s Lokayukta after the state government failed to comply with its directives.
The apex court, while making the appointment that came as an embarrassment to the SP government, also expressed its disapproval over the “failure” of constitutional functionaries to comply with the orders of the highest court of the land.
The UP government failed to meet the Supreme Court deadline to appoint the Lokayukta even after two rounds of marathon talks, which failed to come up with a consensus name.
After a five-hour long meeting of a three-member selection committee that ended around last midnight failed to arrive at a conclusion, talks resumed this morning at the residence of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow.
But even that meeting, lasting two hours, failed to come up with a name despite the Supreme Court order that the state government should submit a compliance report by today.
The apex court ordered the appointment of Virendra Singh, a former judge of the Allahabad High Court, after it examined five short-listed names for the post of the state’s ombudsman and asked the state government to file a report by December 20 indicating compliance of its order.
“The failure of constitutional functionaries to comply with the orders of the highest court of the land is deeply regretted and astonishing,” a bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi said, adding, “We, therefore, proceed to exercise our right under Article 142 of the Constitution to remedy the situation by passing an appropriate order.”
