By IANS,
New Delhi: The government Saturday invited applications for the appointment of a chairperson and eight members in the Lokpal, the anti-corruption watchdog created by parliament.
“The government has invited applications for filling up one post of chairperson and eight posts of members in the Lokpal,” an official release said.
The release said four of the eight posts are for judicial members.
It said the government circulated these vacancies to the Supreme Court registrar, registrars of high court, chief secretaries of state governments and secretaries in the central government calling for nomination of eligible candidates.
The vacancies have also been advertised to directly invite applications from eligible candidates.
President Pranab Mukherjee Jan 1 gave his assent to the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, 2011.
The most prominent of a clutch of anti-graft legislations on the anvil, the Lokpal Act seeks to establish a Lokpal at the central level and asks states to establish Lokayuktas within a year’s time from the date of notification of the law.
The format of the Lokayukta will be left to the state assemblies to decide.
The Act provides that Lokpal will consist of a chairperson and a maximum of eight members, of which 50 percent shall be judicial members. Fifty percent members of Lokpal shall be from among Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC), minorities and women.
The selection committee will have prime minister, Lok Sabha speaker, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the chief justice of India.
A fifth member of the selection committee for selection of Lokpal under the category of “eminent jurist” may be nominated by the president on the basis of recommendation of the first four members of the selection committee.
The Lokpal Act includes the prime minister in its purview with certain exclusions subject to certain exclusions.
For independence of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Act provides for creating a directorate of prosecution.