New Delhi: In a major embarrassment for the government, the man heading the search for the nine members of the Lokpal or national anti-corruption ombudsman has withdrawn from the committee he chaired.
In a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, Justice KT Thomas has withdrawn his consent to head the panel, which is meant to have eight members. Last week, noted jurist Fali Nariman refused the government’s invite to be a part of the committee. He said that he believes the selection process is flawed and unlikely to find the most deserving candidates.
Justice Thomas, who retired from the Supreme Court in 2002, was chosen to head the committee by a panel that included the Prime Minister and Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The Lokpal is meant to include four former or serving judges. Famous legal experts like Mr Nariman have objected to the fact that judges have been asked to apply for the posts, rather than being shortlisted and then screened by the search committee.
The law that creates the Lokpal was passed by parliament last December. The need for an ombudsman empowered to investigate corrupt government officials was championed by activists Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal in 2012 in a high-profile movement which caught the imagination of middle class India.
But the Lokpal proposal was stalled in parliament for several years. During that time, Mr Kejriwal’s decision to launch a political party impelled an estrangement with Anna.
Mr Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which vowed to combat systemic corruption, was heavily favoured by voters in the state elections in Delhi in December and he took over as Chief Minister. But he resigned last month when he failed to push through the Delhi iteration of the Lokpal law in the state legislature.
AAP’s electoral success forced other larger parties to ape its anti-graft agenda. The Congress has attributed the clearance of the Lokpal bill by parliament to the efforts of its young vice-president, Rahul Gandhi.
