The absence of a leader of Opposition in lok Sabha will not be a hindrance in the path of the Centre for appointing the lokpal, ruled the Supreme Court in a significant judgment pronounced on Thursday.
Dealing with a set of two petitions by Common Cause and Youth for Equality that questioned the delay in implementation of The lokpal and lokayuktas Act 2013, a Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha refused to interpret the leader of Opposition to mean the leader of the largest party in Opposition, as demanded by the petitioners. Instead, it said, “If, at present, the leader of Opposition is not available, surely, the Chairperson and the other two Members of the Selection Committee, namely the Speaker of lok Sabha and Chief Justice of India or his nominee, may proceed to appoint an eminent jurist as a Member of the Selection Committee under Section 4(1)(e) of the Act.”
The judgment paves the way for the appointment of lokpal, at a time when the Centre bargained for more time since amendments to the said Act recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee are pending consideration with the Centre. The Bench said that Parliament in its wisdom is within its right to suggest amendments to the Act. Two recommendations among the report by the Committee are crucial as it suggested having leader of largest party in Opposition to be read in place of leader of Opposition and the other key suggestion being that in the event there is a vacancy in the Selection Committee, no decision will be taken till such vacancy is filled up.
The Bench said, “The views of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, in our considered view, are attempts at streamlining the working of the Act and in no way constitute legal hindrances or bars to the enforcement of the provisions of the Act as it stands today.”
The recommended changes will have to be considered by the executive and then approved by the legislature, which can further delay an Act passed by the Parliament. To cut short the delay, the bench held, “The Act as it stands today is an eminently workable piece of legislation and there is no justification to keep the enforcement of the Act under suspension till the amendments, as proposed, are carried out.”
The Court dismissed another petition which challenged the constitutional validity of lokpal Act on the ground that the view of Chief Justice of India must be given primacy in the deliberations of the Selection Committee. The Bench said, “It is not the mandate of the Constitution that in all matters concerning the appointment to various offices in different bodies, primacy must be accorded to the opinion of the Chief Justice or his nominee.”