Meeting to name a new UP Lokayukta fails to take off

LUCKNOW: A fresh effort to break the deadlock over appointment of Lokayukta in Uttar Pradesh failed tonight as a three-member selection committee could not meet here to deliberate on a new name.

The committee comprises Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Swami Prasad Maurya and Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court D Y Chandrachud.

"The meeting could not take place as the chief justice did not attend," Maurya told PTI

He said that the Chief Justice could not attend as today was the working day. Now the meeting would be held on a non working day so that the Chief Justice could attend.

The process to select the new Lokayukta had run into rough weather after the Chief Justice had expressed his reservations against the government's nominee Justice (retired) Ravindra Singh Yadav.

The state government and the Governor are also not on the same page on Yadav's nomination and the file recommending his name has moved back and forth nearly half a dozen times between Raj Bhawan and the state government.

The UP Assembly had last month passed the Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta and Up-Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2015, to amend Lokayukta Act dropping Allahabad High Court Chief Justice from the selection committee.

The bill proposed that the committee be made a four-member body comprising the CM, Leader of the Opposition, Speaker and a retired judge who would be selected in consultation with the CM and Speaker.