Don't wait for Parliament approval, set up Lokpal soon: SC to Centre

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to set up the ‘anti-corruption ombudsman’ Lokpal under the 2013 law without waiting for Parliament approval of the standing committee’s suggestion for amending the law to include leader of single largest party in the place of LoP to be part of the search committee.

A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha passed this order on petitions filed by Common Cause and Youth for Equality alleging that the Centre was dragging its feet in appointing Lokpal despite enacting the law in 2013 and notifying the same in January 2014.

It said the Lokpal Act as it stands today is an eminently workable piece of legislation and there is no justification to keep the enforcement of the Act under suspension till the amendments, as proposed, are carried out. Writing the judgment Justice Gogoi said if the Lokpal Act, as it exists, is otherwise workable. The bench rejected the Centre’s submission that the law cannot be implemented in the absence of LoP and without amending the law.