Uttarakhand: After the High Court’s rebuke, the appointment of Lokayukta was not done, the matter is hanging in balance

Once again, the matter of appointment of Lokayukta in Uttarakhand seems to be hanging. Even after the reprimand received by the Uttarakhand government from the High Court, the Lokayukta has not been appointed yet. Although the process of appointment of Lokayukta was started by the government, the matter is still hanging.

No appointment of Lokayukta after the reprimand of the High Court

The matter of Lokayukta in Uttarakhand remains in discussions from time to time. After the reprimand of the High Court, the process of appointment of Lokayukta was started by the government, but due to the lack of meeting, the matter seems to be hanging. In such a situation, the government and the opposition are also being accused of not being serious about the formation of Lokayukta. In such a situation, the matter of selection of Lokayukta is being postponed from one meeting to another.

Opposition also not serious about Lokayukta

Not only the government but the opposition also does not seem serious about the appointment of Lokayukta. Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya, a member of the Lokayukta selection committee, is also often absent from the meeting due to which the meeting is postponed. This information was revealed by RTI activist advocate Vikash Negi through RTI.

Vikash Negi says that the then Chief Justice of the High Court Vipin Sanghvi and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal, while hearing a PIL on 27 June 2023, ordered the state to appoint a Lokayukta. In its order, the bench said that this appointment should be made within a period of eight weeks.

The result of the meetings regarding Lokayukta was zero

After the order of the High Court, the state government constituted a selection committee under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. Apart from the CM, the Leader of the Opposition, the Speaker of the Assembly, a judge of the High Court and another member were to be appointed in it. All that has happened in the last one and a half years is that now former Justice MM Ghildiyal has been appointed as a member in this committee.

According to the information received by RTI activist Vikash Negi, meeting after meeting kept taking place regarding the Lokayukta and the result was zero. In two meetings, Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya was not present, so no decision could be taken. It is worth noting that Lokayukta was included in the 2017 election manifesto of BJP. Even after seven years, the BJP government is not able to implement it. Not only this, 24 employees have also been deployed in Lokayukta. All these employees are getting salary without working. The High Court has also sought a reply from the government regarding the work and posts of these employees.

The government does not want the appointment of Lokayukta in Uttarakhand

Vikash Negi says in this whole matter that he will put a contempt notice against the government in the matter of appointment of Lokayukta or file a new PIL in the court. At the same time, Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi is raising questions on the opposition for not attending the meetings regarding the appointment of Lokayukta.

He says that the opposition is also working to hang the matter of Lokayukta. At the same time, the Congress says that the government does not want the appointment of Lokayukta in Uttarakhand, so a meeting is held regarding the selection of Lokayukta at such a time when the Leader of the Opposition has already decided his schedule. This may be the reason why Yashpal Arya may not have attended the meetings many times.