In a major embarrassment to the Narendra Modi government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 24) questioned its political will and slammed it for procrastinating on the appointment of Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman, which has been pending since it was made into law in 2013.
Chief Justice TS Thakur did not mince words when questioning the government's lackadaisical attitude towards the appointment of the ombudsman until now, especially since the Prime Minister himself was so public about his commitment of cleansing the system. The Chief Justice further added whether or not the government would allow the law to become redundant, in wake of country's corruption crisis.
Defending the government’s position, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi emphasised the government’s commitment to cleaning up the system and stated that the action on demonetization was a step in that direction.
He also added that the amendments to the Bill were pending in Parliament. One of the amendments was that the Leader of the single largest Opposition party in Lok Sabha was to be a part of the search panel to identify a suitable candidate, in case of absence of a Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha. This situation had arisen as there was no LoP in Lok Sabha post 2014 General elections.
To this, the Chief Justice retorted that the nation cannot wait for another two and a half years and if the government failed to urgently move on this, including exploring the Ordinance route, the apex court would step in and appoint the Lokpal.
The Attorney General took exception to this, saying that the apex court could not step over the legislature on the appointment. The Supreme Court has announced December 7 as the date for next hearing on the matter.
In a major embarrassment to the Narendra Modi government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 24) questioned its political will and slammed it for procrastinating on the appointment of Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman, which has been pending since it was made into law in 2013.
Chief Justice TS Thakur did not mince words when questioning the government's lackadaisical attitude towards the appointment of the ombudsman until now, especially since the Prime Minister himself was so public about his commitment of cleansing the system. The Chief Justice further added whether or not the government would allow the law to become redundant, in wake of country's corruption crisis.
Defending the government’s position, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi emphasised the government’s commitment to cleaning up the system and stated that the action on demonetization was a step in that direction.
He also added that the amendments to the Bill were pending in Parliament. One of the amendments was that the Leader of the single largest Opposition party in Lok Sabha was to be a part of the search panel to identify a suitable candidate, in case of absence of a Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha. This situation had arisen as there was no LoP in Lok Sabha post 2014 General elections.
To this, the Chief Justice retorted that the nation cannot wait for another two and a half years and if the government failed to urgently move on this, including exploring the Ordinance route, the apex court would step in and appoint the Lokpal.
The Attorney General took exception to this, saying that the apex court could not step over the legislature on the appointment. The Supreme Court has announced December 7 as the date for next hearing on the matter.
