TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Advocate General (AG) Atmaram Nadkarni has suggested to Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to approach the Chief Justice of India (CJI) for appointing Goa Lokayukta as the post lies vacant for nearly 20 months.
Secretariat sources told Herald that AG’s written suggestion also speaks about not forming any State panel to select the candidate for Goa Lokayukta. “AG has suggested that there is no need to constitute a panel for selecting Lokayukta. Instead, CM can write to CJI and get it done,” the official said.
The suggestion comes after Parsekar had moved an official file requesting Nadkarni to head the selection panel, which the latter declined.
The BJP government failing to find a suitable candidate for the post of Goa Lokayukta had in May 2012, constituted a committee headed by the AG, with the Chief Secretary and the Law Secretary as its members, to identify a suitable candidate for the crucial post. The panel had zeroed in on Justice (retired) Sudarshan Reddy, who was sworn in, in March 2013.
The panel was later disbanded. The first Lokayukta then resigned in October 2013, within seven months of taking over the charge. His resignation left investigation of as many as 17 cases, including the crucial illegal mining scam and the recruitments in government department, pending before the ombudsman in the State. With government enabling to find the right person for the post, government had intended to amend the Act.
According to the Lokayukta Act – which was amended by the government, the State should either have a retired Chief Justice of a High Court or a retired judge of the Supreme Court as its Lokayukta.
Goa RTI Forum has already filed a public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court at Goa seeking to direct Goa government to appoint not only Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioners but also Lokayukta and UpaLokayukta.
