Lokayukta Appointment: Odisha Govt Forms 7-Member Search Committee

Bhubaneswar: Acting on the directive of the Supreme Court for appointment of Lokayukta, the Odisha government on Monday constituted a seven-member search committee.

The committee members were selected at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Guest House here.

The seven-member committee will be led by the retired Judge of the Supreme Court and former Chief Justice of Orissa High Court Justice Amitava Roy and have former IAS officer Sanjiv Hota, former Odisha DGP Gopal Nanda, former IAS officer Dr RN Bohidar, Dr Bidhu Bhusan Samal, Prof Snigdha Patnaik of XIMB and Vice Chancellor of National Law University, Bangalore, Dr Venkata Rao Rambhatla as members.

For the post of Lokayukta chairperson, the search 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 committee will recommend the name of the chairperson and other members of Lokayukta to the selection committee by January after which the selection committee will select a 6-member Lokayukta Mandal, including the Lokayukta chairperson, at a meeting in February next year.

Among others, Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court Justice KS Jhaveri; retired Supreme Court Judge Justice Ananga Patnaik, Speaker of the State Assembly Pradip Amat and leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra were present.

The Supreme Court on July 10 this year had directed the state government to complete the process for appointment of the Lokayukta within two months.

A day before the directive of the apex court, the state government had come up with a gazette notification for the formation of the search committee on July 9.

The Lokayukta Bill was passed in the Odisha Assembly on February 14, 2014.