Prasar Bharati chief A Surya Prakash, ex-SBI head Arundhati Bhattacharya in Lokpal search panel

Despite the main Opposition Congress boycotting the meetings to choose Lokpal, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led panel on Thursday appointed a search committee to find a suitable person to nominate Lokpal. An eight-member search committee was constituted to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, who will recommend the chairperson and members of the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal. Other members included Justice Sakha Ram Singh Yadav, former judge of Allahabad High Court; Shabbir Husein, S Khandwawala, former Gujarat Police head, Lalit K Panwar, retired IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, Ranjit Kumar, chief of State Bank of India (SBI) Arundhati Bhattacharya, Prasar Bharati chairperson A Surya Prakash and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) head A S Kiran Kumar as members.

"The process of Lokpal selection is going as per the guidelines laid down in the Lokpal Act," Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said. The move assumes significance as the government decided to go ahead with the formation of the search committee despite Congress leader in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, boycotting meetings of the Lokpal selection panel, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a senior government official said. "The search committee is a major step towards setting up of the Lokpal. The committee will start its functioning soon," he said.

The Congress has been consistently boycotting the Lokpal Selection Committee, asserting that it would continue to do so until the leader of the single largest opposition party is given the status of a full-fledged member in the panel. The leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, wrote to Prime Minister fight time this year, conveying his reservations. He had been invited to participate as a "special invitee". The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, envisages establishment of anti-graft body Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants. It was passed way back in 2013.

Kharge had earlier urged the government to amend the Lokpal Act to include the leader of the single largest opposition party in Lok Sabha in the selection committee and bring an ordinance in this regard. As per the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, only the leader of the opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha is a member of the selection committee and since, Kharge does not have that status, he is not a part of the panel.

The Lokpal selection committee headed by the prime minister has as its members the Lok Sabha speaker, leader of the opposition in the lower house, the chief justice of India or a judge of the apex court nominated by him, and an eminent jurist who could be nominated by the president or any other member.

THE MANDATE

The eight-member search committee is mandated to recommend a panel of names for the appointment of the Lokpal and its members