Government constitutes Lokpal search committee; 4 out of 10 are previous search committee members
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ August 4,2023
The Centre on August 2,2023 has constituted a ten -member search committee, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, to recommend the chairperson and members of the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, which envisages establishment of anti-graft body Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in States to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.
Justice Ranjana Desai is the Chairperson and Justice Kalpesh Satyendra Jhaveri ,Dr. A.S. Kiran Kumar ,A. Surya Prakash, Rajiv Yadav , Otem Dai, Heera Lal Samariya ,Samant Kumar God, Arundhati Bhattacharya and Ahmed Javed are the members of the search committee, according to an order by the Personnel Ministry.
Interestingly, in September 2018, the government had constituted the search committee under the chairmanship of Justice Ranjana Desai, who is again heading the new search committee and Arundhati Bhattacharya, A Surya Prakash and AS Kiran Kumar were the other members of that committee who are again nominated as the new search committee.
Government constitutes Lokpal search committee; 4 out of 10 are previous search committee members who are again included in the new 10 member search committee. Besides them, Justice Sakha Ram Singh Yadav, former judge of Allahabad High Court; Shabbirhusein S Khandwawala, former Gujarat Police head; Lalit K Panwar, retired IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre; and former Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar were the other members of the 2018 panel.
Upon selection, the chairperson and members shall hold office for a term of five years or till they attain 70 years of age.The salary and allowances of the chairman will be same as that of the Chief Justice of India.The members will be paid salary and allowances same as that of a judge of the Supreme Court.
The committee members are
Justice Ranjana Desai , a former judge of the Supreme Court of India and remained the head of the Delimitation Commission of India.
Kalpesh Satyendra Jhaveri is an Indian Judge and former Chief Justice of Orissa High Court.
A. Surya Prakash is an Indian journalist who was also the chairperson of Prasar Bharati.
Heeralal Samariya, an Information Commissioner
Otem Dai , IAS remained Secretary Central Vigilance Commission
Dr AS Kiran Kumar, is a distinguished Scientist (Apex) and Director, Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, was Secretary, Department of Space, Chairman, Space Commission and Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
Samant Kumar Goel,IPS is a former RAW chief .
Arundhati Bhattacharya is a retired Indian banker and former Chairperson of the State Bank of India.She is the first woman to be the Chairperson of State Bank of India.
Ahmed Javed is a retired Indian police officer and civil servant who was the 39th Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, India. He is also a former Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
