PCI chief Justice Desai to head 10-member panel to recommend chief, members of Lokpal

New Delhi: The Centre has appointed Press Council of India (PCI) chairperson Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai as chairperson of a 10-member search committee to recommend the chief and members of anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal.

Former head of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Samant Kumar Goel and Information Commissioner Heera Lal Samariya are among the members of the committee.

The Lokpal is working without its regular chief after Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose completed his term on May 27 last year.

Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty, a judicial member of Lokpal, is currently the "acting chairperson".

At present, there are five members in the Lokpal. Two posts of judicial members and one post of non-judicial member are lying vacant.

The Lokpal is headed by a chairperson and can have eight members -- four judicial and the rest non-judicial.

The prime minister-led selection committee has constituted a search committee for the purpose of recommending the panel for consideration of the positions of chairperson and members of the Lokpal, an order issued by the Personnel Ministry said.

The search committee's nine members include Justice Kalpesh Satyendra Jhaveri, former chief justice of Orissa high court; Samant Kumar Goel, ex-chief of RAW; Heera Lal Samariya; A S Kiran Kumar, former head of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO); A Surya Prakash, ex-chairperson of Prasar Bharati; and Arundhati Bhattacharya, former chief of State Bank of India (SBI), according to the order dated August 2.

Besides them, former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Otem Dai and Rajiv Yadav and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Ahmed Javed are also appointed as the members of the search committee.

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, which envisages the appointment of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.

A Lokpal chief and its members are appointed by the President after obtaining the recommendations of a selection committee headed by the prime minister and comprising the speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in the Lower House, the Chief Justice of India or a Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him, and an eminent jurist as recommended by the chairperson and members of the selection panel.

The selection committee shall for the purposes of selecting the chairperson and members of the Lokpal and for preparing a panel of persons to be considered for such appointment, constitute a search committee consisting of at least seven persons of standing and having special knowledge and expertise in the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, policy making, finance including insurance and banking, law and management, according to the Lokpal Act.

An earlier search committee, which was also headed by Justice Desai, had in February 2019 invited applications for appointment as the chairperson and members of Lokpal.