SC gives Centre 10 days to decide date for meeting of Lokpal Selection Panel

New Delhi, Mar 07: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government to inform within 10 days possible date for the meeting of the selection committee for appointment of Lokpal.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was informed by Venugopal that the search committee headed by former apex court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai has recommended three panels of names to the selection committee for appointment of chairperson, judicial and non-judicial members.

The top court also refused to pass directions to disclose names in the three panels.

The Selection Committee led by Prime Minister and comprising Lok Sabha Speaker, CJI or his nominee, Leader of Opposition and an eminent jurist will now take decision on appointing India's first ever Lokpal and its members.

As there is no Leader of Opposition, the leader of Congress Legislature Party in Lok Sabha had been invited to the meeting as a special invitee, but he (Mallikarjun Kharge) is not attending the meetings, Venugopal told the court.

The top court also turned down advocate Prashant Bhushan's plea seeking to make public the names proposed by the search committee. The court observed that it will not pass any directions to disclose three panels of names recommended by the Lokpal Search Committee and said that the matter should be left to the committee.