The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on petitions seeking recall of an earlier order by which Justice Virendra Singh, former judge of Allahabad High Court, was appointed the Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh.
The bench, comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Prafulla C Pant, made clear that it is not going to vacate its order appointing Justice Singh as Lokayukta till there were compelling circumstances to do so. The apex court today also said that it would not send the appointment issue back to the empowered collegium.
Earlier, The court on December 16 last year had exercised its constitutional authority and appointed Justice Singh, a former judge of the Allahabad High Court as Lokayukta. It had said the constitutional functionaries of the State, Chief Minister, the leader of opposition and Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court had failed to comply with its orders by not appointing the chief of the state’s anti-graft ombudsman.
During the winter vacation, the Supreme Court had heard a fresh plea filed by Sachidanand Gupta who had alleged that the SP government had “concealed facts” about Justice Singh and “played fraud” upon the apex court.