New Delhi, August 3
The Centre has appointed a panel headed by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to finalise a new set of rules for the constitution of the proposed Lokpal.

The Lokpal search committee had become a non-starter following the refusal of retired Supreme Court judge KT Thomas to head it and eminent jurist Fali S Nariman to join the eight-member committee.

Justice Thomas and Nariman had said the existing rules would not facilitate the selection of meritorious candidates with unimpeachable integrity as the head and members of the Lokpal, the apex anti-corruption ombudsman with powers to go into complaints against the Prime Minister, other ministers and lawmakers, besides top bureaucrats.

The search committee had been appointed by the outgoing UPA-II government.

On May 5, the UPA government had assured the SC that the controversial Lokpal selection process would be amended before putting in place the first anti-corruption body.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha recorded the assurance given by the then Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran that the selection process “shall not commence on the existing rules.”

The Bench was hearing a PIL by NGO Common Cause, challenging the rules under which the Lokpal Search Committee could recommend candidates only from the list of persons provided by the Central Government. This restriction directly ran counter to the very object of having an independent Lokpal, petitioner’s advocate Prashant Bhushan had pleaded.

The BJP, which was in the Opposition then, had also criticised the rules. Now, the Narendra Modi government is planning to empower the search committee to consider suitable candidates ignored by the government.

A five-member select committee —- comprising the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha Speaker, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, SC judge HL Dattu (nominated by the Chief Justice of India) and constitutional expert PP Rao —- had named seven eminent personalities to the search committee.

Besides Justice Thomas and Nariman, the others appointed on the search committee were Meenakshi Gopinath, principal of Lady Shri Ram College here, former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi, educationist Mrinal Miri, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary KM Rao and senior journalist HK Dua.