Petition filed in SC seeking urgent interim directions to stay the Lokpal selection process

Seeking urgent interim directions, in the pending Writ Petition, in regard to the selection process of Chairperson and Members of the Lokpal, Common Cause, the Writ Petitioner has filed an Application through their advocate Mr. Prashant Bhushan. The writ petition (Civil Writ Petition No. 245 of 2014,Common Cause vs. Union of India) was filed questioning the selection process of Chairperson and Members of the Lokpal commenced under the Search Committee (Constitution, Terms and Conditions of appointment of members and the manner of selection of Panel of names for appointment of Chairperson and Members of Lokpal) Rules, 2014. The application was filed in view of the latest communication by the Prime Minister to all the members of the Selection Committee to specify their availability between the 24 and the 28 April 2014 so that a meeting of the Selection Committee could be held to appoint the Chairperson and Members of the Lokpal. Unconfirmed the sources reveal that at least 4 of the sitting Supreme Court judges have applied for the post of Lokpal. The impugned provisions of the Rules and the grounds of challenge in the Writ Petition mainly are:(i) Rule 10 (1) of the said Rules, in so far as it provides that the Search Committee shall prepare a panel of persons to be considered by the Selection Committee for appointment of Chairperson and Members of the Lokpalfrom amongst the list of persons provided by the Central Government directly runs counter to the very object of having an independent Lokpal and the provisions of the said Act; and (ii) Rule 10 (4) (i), in so far as it provides that non-judicial members of Lokpal, apart from having special knowledge and expertise of not less than twenty-five years in matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance or law, must have held or must be holding the post of Secretary to the Government of India or any equivalent post thereto under the Central Government or a State Government, travels beyond the scope and ambit of the Lokpal Act, since Section 3 (3) (b) of the said Act, while selecting Non-judicial members of the Lokpal from persons having special knowledge and expertise of anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance or law, does not limit the field of selection to retired and serving Secretaries to the Government of India and holders of equivalent posts in the state governments, most of whom belong to the Indian Administrative Service.According to the averments in the Application, the Government is pushing ahead with the process of appointment of the Chairperson and Members of the Lokpal despite the fact that the Rules under which the Chairperson and Members of Lokpal were to be appointed, are under challenge in a writ petition and that the Supreme Court had already issued notice and fixed May 5 2014 as the next date of hearing. The Application states that it came to the Petitioner's knowledge that on April 11 2014, the Prime Minister addressed a letter to all the members of the Selection Committee. On 31 March 2014, the writ petition came up for hearing for the first time before the Apex Court and during the hearing, according to the petitioner, a question was put by the Apex Court to the Solicitor General, who appeared for the Union of India, as to whether the Central Government took any step towards the selection of the Lokpal and its members. The Solicitor General replied in the open Court that the Government was not doing anything in so far as the selection of Lokpal and its members was concerned. In view of thedefinite statement by the Solicitor General, no interim order was passed by the Apex Court Court but it made an oral observation that if the Petitioner were to come across any such development, it would be at free to approach the top court for interim directions.Live Law reported, that on March 31 2014 a Supreme Court Bench of Justices R M Lodha and Kurian Joseph found merit in the submission made in a petition filed by NGO Common Cause, through advocate Prashant Bhushan who had questioned the entire selection process for appointment of Chairperson and members of the Lokpal and sought to declare "illegal" the rules under which selections were being done. The Apex Court Bench issued notice and directed the Centre to reply to the petition within four weeks. Live Law reported that on March 5 2014 the constitutionality of the Search Committee (Constitution, terms and conditions of appointment of members and the manner of selection of panel of names for appointment of chairperson and members of Lokpal) Rules, 2014 came under challenge in two separate Public Interest Litigations, one before the Supreme Court and the other, before the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court.The Petitioner also sought a declaration that certain provisions of the Rules were ultra vires of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act and also sought quashing of the entire selection process initiated under the rules alleging that it was illegal,...

Petition filed in SC seeking urgent interim directions to stay the Lokpal selection process

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