President Of India Appoints Former Supreme Court Judge AM Khanwilkar As Lokpal Chairman

The President of India has appointed former Supreme Court judge Justice AM Khanwilkar as the Lokpal chairperson along with six other members of the anti graft watchdog.

Justices Lingappa Narayana Swamy, Sanjay Yadav and Ritu Raj Awasthi were appointed as judicial members of the Lokpal, while the three non-judicial members includedformer Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, former Chief Secretary of Gujarat Pankaj Kumar andAjay Tirkey, a former secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development.

The Lokpal examines corruption allegations and complaints against the Central government functionaries and officials.Apart from a chairperson, the Lokpal can have eight members -- four judicial and as many non-judicial.The Lok Pal and Lok Ayuktas Act was passed in 2013.

The Act provides for the appointment of the chairperson and members of the Lokpal by the President on recommendations of a panel headed by the prime minister. Besides the PM, the panel comprises the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, the Chief Justice of India and an eminent jurist.

The Lokpal has been working without a full-time chief after Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose completed his term on May 27, 2022. Since then,Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty has been officiating as the Acting Chairperson of Lok Pal.Justice Khanwilkar's appointment fills an important position that has been lying vacant for nearly two years.

Of the judicial members appointed Tuesday, Justice Awasthi is currently the chairperson of the Law Commission and previously served as the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court from October 2021 to July 2022.He was named the chief of the Law Commission of India in November 2022. Justice Sanjay Yadav served as the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Justice Swamy is a former Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court and was previously a judge at the Karnataka High Court.

As regards the non-judicial members, Chandra, who also served as the Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), is a 1980 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. Kumar is a 1986 batch IAS officer who had served as the additional principal secretary in Chief Minister's office when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the CM. Tirkey is a 1987 batch IAS officer who also served as the Secretary of Women and Child Development in the central government. He was also the principal secretary of Madhya Pradesh Governor.