The Supreme Court, on 27 April, said that the Lokpal Act is a “workable piece of legislation” and ask the Centre to implement it without any delay. The SC asked the Centre to not hold the appointments of Lokpal and Lokayuktas in abeyance.
The judgment was delivered by a bench – comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha – on a PIL filed by NGO Common Cause with regard to the appointment of the chairperson and members of the Lokpal.
On 28 March, after hearing arguments of all the parties, an SC bench reserved its decision on a batch of pleas seeking appointment of the Lokpal committee.
During the hearing, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said the Lokpal cannot be appointed in the current scenario as amendments regarding the definition of the Leader of Opposition in the Lokpal Act was pending in Parliament.
As per the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act of 2013, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha will be part of the Lokpal selection panel. At present, there is no Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
He said that the Congress, the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, lacks requisite number of MPs. Therefore, the Leader of Opposition post was not granted to it.
On 23 November last year, the SC had pulled up the Centre over the delay in appointment of a Lokpal saying it should not allow the law to become a "dead letter".
(With inputs from PTI.)
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