'Why Lokayukta not appointed in 12 states?,' SC asks Chief Secretaries

The Supreme Court on Friday asked chief secretaries of 12 states to give reasons in two weeks on why Lokayukta have not been appointed there. West Bengal, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Orissa, Puducherry, Sikkim, Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi have not appointed Lokayukta.

The apex court also asked the 12 states to specify by when they would appoint a Lokayukta.

The apex court was hearing a PIL, which also sought a direction to the states to provide adequate budgetary allocation and essential infrastructure for effective functioning of Lokayuktas.

According to Livelaw, a bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and R Banumathi asked advocate Gopal Shankaranarayanan who appeared for petitioner Ashwini Upadhyaya, lawyer and Delhi BJP leader, which are the states which have appointed Lokayukta and which ones have not?

Upadhyay has filed a PIL stating in the petition that, though the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013, received assent from the President on January 1, 2014, and came into force from January 16, 2014, the executive has not established a body to be called the "Lokpal" in the spirit of Section 3 of the Act. The office of the Lokayukta is also vacant in many States, he submitted.

(With agency inputs)