Will Justice (Retired) Virendra Singh Yadav finally make the cut as the next Ombudsman of the State IJ
Even as a meeting to discuss the probables for the post on Thursday was cancelled due to the non arrival of Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, DY Chandrachud, sources claimed that CM Akhilesh Yadav and leader of Opposition, Swami Prasad Maurya had an hour long dialogue and have 'almost reached a consensus' on one of the 40 aspirants.
Even as Maurya could not be contacted on Friday to confirm the probable, a senior BSP leader said that there were differences between the two leaders over the final candidate and hence a consensus could not be reached.
Sources claimed that while the CM wanted a judge closer to the ruling dispensation, after the Chief Justice disapproved a nominee Ravindra Singh Yadav, Maurya has been advocating the name of a close chum of BSP stalwart Satish Mishra.
Interestingly, a senior yet controversial cabinet minister too is pushing some names stressing that the next Ombudsman should be from the minority.
Sources maintained that while name of Chairman of Consumer Forum, Virendra Singh Yadav tooped the chart of probables, the other prominent names discussed on Thursday were that of Sanjay Mishra, Imtiyaz Murtaza, AN Verma, and DP Singh.
The state government is optimistic that the Chief Justice
will clear the name of Virendra Yadav as he was appointed to his present posting as Chairman of Consumer Forum only with the ckearance from the CJ of Allahabad High Court.
A senior government official said that the list of other probables included UK Dhawan, Zakiullah Khan, PC Verma, Rakesh Sharma, IM Quddusi, Jagdish Bhalla, Bhanwar Singh, MU Khan, SS Yadav, Abdul Mateen, DP Singh of lucknow etc.
Sources also said that if the meeting between the three - CM, leader of Opposition and the CJ could not take place, then both Yadav and Maurya could reach a consensus and later take consent of the CJ before sending it to Governor for approval.
Thursday's meeting was necessitated and convened, as the Raj Bhavan had earlier rejected the government's proposal recommending Justice (Retired) Raviundra Yadav as the new Ombudsman referring to objections from the Chief Justice, Allahabad High Court. The Governor had asked the CM to call a joint meeting of the three memners to discuss afresh the candidatures for the top anti-corruption job.