New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Odisha government to complete the process for appointment of the Lokayukta within two months.
The directive of the apex court came after Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi submitted a status report on the initiative taken by the state government in this regard.
The apex court had earlier directed the Odisha Chief Secretary to submit a status report on steps taken for the appointment of a Lokayukta before July 10.
The state government on Monday had issued a gazette notification on formation of a ‘search committee’ for the appointment of the Lokayukta.
According to the notification, a three-member committee will be formed under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister with the Assembly Speaker and Leader of the Opposition as members. The committee will recommend the name of the other members of the committee, who will be appointed by the Governor.
Later, a selection committee comprising these four members with the chief minister as its chairman will be formed in which the Principal Secretary, General Administration, will be the secretary of the committee. This committee will select the chairperson and the members of Lokayukta Mandal.
The selection committee will form a five-member search committee. The term of the committee will be of two years while its members will be conferred with facilities of an officer in the rank of the secretary. For the post of Lokayukta chairperson, the committee will select five persons while for the appointment of five members it will select 15 persons and recommend their name to the selection committee. The selection committee will later select a 6-member Lokayukta Mandal including the Lokayukta chairperson.
Taking strong exception to the inordinate delay in the appointment of Lokayukta, the Supreme Court on April 19 had outright rejected the six-month time requested by the state government for the appointment of the Lokayukta and directed it to submit a status report by July 10.
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