Lokpal search committee: Supreme Court tells Centre to file affidavit by 17 January on steps taken since September

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to place on affidavit steps taken since September 2018 to set up a search committee for the Lokpal. The apex court asked Attorney General KK Venugopal to file the affidavit on the matter by 17 January. “You have to ensure on affidavit the steps taken on the issue of setting up of a search committee for the Lokpal,” a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SK Kaul said. When the attorney-general said that since the last order of September 2018, several steps have been taken , the bench said, “What all have you done till date? So much time is being taken”. [caption id=“attachment_5542981” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of the Supreme Court. AP[/caption] When the attorney general reiterated that several steps have been taken, the bench shot back “bring everything on record what you have done since September 2018”. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO Common Cause, which has been pursuing the issue of Lokpal, said the government has not even made public the members of the search committee on its website. The top court had on 24 July, 2018 rejected as “wholly unsatisfactory” the Centre’s submission on the issue of setting up of a search committee for the Lokpal and demanded a “better affidavit” within four weeks. The direction had followed a submission by the attorney general that the selection committee members comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then chief justice Dipak Misra, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and eminent jurist Mukul Rohatgi had met on 19 July to deliberate upon names for members of the search committee. The selection panel also took note that the search committee is to comprise a minimum of seven people (including chairperson) with experience in anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, policy making, finance including insurance and banking, law and management, etc, Venugopal had said. Besides, 50 percent of the members of the search committee will be from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Minorities and Women, he had said.