‘So much time is being taken’: SC raps Centre on delay in appointing Lokpal

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday directed the Centre to place on affidavit steps taken since September last year to set up a search committee for the Lokpal.

The apex court asked Attorney General K K Venugopal to file the affidavit on the matter by January 17.

“You have to ensure on affidavit the steps taken on the issue of setting up of a search committee for the Lokpal,” a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul said.

When the attorney general said that since the last order of September 2018, several steps have been taken, the bench asked him “what all have you done till date. So much time is being taken”.

When the attorney general reiterated that several steps have been taken, the bench shot back “bring everything on record what you have done since September 2018”.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO Common Cause, which has been pursuing the issue of Lokpal, said the government has not even made public the members of the search committee on its website.