Former SC judge may head 9-member panel that includes judicial and non-judicial names
Former Supreme Court judge, Pinaki Chandra Ghose, is all set to become the first Lokpal of India, said sources close to the decision making process. The PM Narendra Modi-led selection committee chose Ghose's name from a panel of names recommended by an eight-member search committee.
While the move to constitute a Lokpal has come following continuous pressure exerted by the apex court, it would certainly help the BJP in its election campaign, since the party had claimed in its 2014 election manifesto that the office of Lokpal would be constituted within its tenure.
According to sources, Ghosh will preside over the Lokpal as chairman and will be assisted by a panel of four judicial and four non-judicial members. The Lokpal will look into allegations of corruption against public functionaries, including the Prime Minister, and will be the first anti-corruption ombudsman with an independent inquiry wing and prosecution wing.
The selection committee is understood to also have cleared the names of four retired high court chief justices and four retired civil servants for the panel. A formal communication on the composition and tenure of the panel is expected to be released by the President Secretariat shortly.
The selection committee comprised of the Prime Minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of India or a judge nominated by him, and eminent jurist Mukul Rohatgi, former Attorney General of India. However, Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, refused to attend the meeting, saying he was invited as a "special invitee".
Justice Ghose, who hails from West Bengal, is the son of Justice SC Ghose, former chief justice of the Calcutta High Court. He was elevated as Supreme Court judge on March 8, 2013, and retired after a four-year tenure in May 2017. During his tenure at the apex court, he gave a number of landmark verdicts. He was part of the two-judge bench that ordered the trial court hearing the Babri Masjid demolition case to frame criminal conspiracy charge against senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh among others. By doing so, the apex court overturned the decision of the Allahabad High Court, which in 2001, had dropped this charge.
Ghose is also remembered for restoring punishment in a disproportionate assets case against former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and her close aide VK Sasikala. The verdict came after Jayalalithaa's demise, but Sasikala went to jail to serve the remainder of her four-year prison term as ordered by the trial court.
He was also part of a Constitution Bench decision by the apex court that held that the state government does not have suo-motu powers to remit sentences of convicts punished under a central law. The order came with regard to the Tamil Nadu government's decision to grant remission to Rajiv Gandhi's killers.
MEET JUSTICE GHOSE
- Former SC judge had ordered framing of charges against BJP leaders in Babri Masjid demolition case
- He restored punishment in a disproportionate assets case against J Jayalalithaa and her aide VK Sasikala
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