The appointment of lokayukta in UP continued to get murkier with leader of Opposition in the Assembly (lOP), Swami Prasad Maurya claiming that he had never approved the name of Justice (Retd) Virendra Singh for the post as claimed by the Chief Minister.
“Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had claimed in his letter to Governor on January 1, 2016, that the lOP had approved some names and one of which was that of Justice Virendra Singh. I contradict this claim of the CM,” Maurya is reported to have said in his letter to the Governor.
Maurya met Governor Ram Naik early this week and handed over a letter to him explaining his stand on the appointment of lokayukta. The lOP is part of the three-member screening committee comprising the CM and Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court as the other members.
Sources claimed that the Governor has sent that letter to CM Akhilesh Yadav and Chief Justice, DY Chandrachud.
The appointment of lokayukta has been mired in controversy after meetings between the three failed to select the Ombudsman on December 15 and 16. The Supreme Court intervened and appointed Justice Virendra Singh as the lokayukta after the Government Counsel claimed that his name was approved by majority.
In his letter to the Governor, the lOP said that he had never given his nod to Justice Virendra Singh’s vandidature.
“During the meeting on both days, I had repeatedly said that I will approve only that name which has the consensus of the CM and the Chief Justice. In the absence of a consensus, I did not approve any name,” Maurya claimed to have said in his letter.
The BSP leader said that during the meeting on December 16, the name of sitting Judge, AN Mittal was discussed but the issue was postponed till evening. Earlier, the Chief Justice too had written to the Governor on December 16 and Chief Minister had written on January 1.
In his letter, the Chief Justice had expressed surprise in the way the state government had forwarded Singh’s name despite his reservations and government giving as assurance that it will not press for Virendra Singh’s name, his (Justice Singh’s) name was included in the list of shortlisted candidates.
The CJ, in his letter dated December 16, 2015, wrote to Naik, “During the course of the meeting, the CM suggested the name of Justice Virendra Singh, who retired on January 3, 2011 and is presently the President of the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission. I had indicated my strong reservations to the name…on grounds of integrity, and expressed my inability to agree to the name.”
The CJ had, in his letter, also pointed out that he was made aware of the “matrimonial alliance between the families of Virendra Singh and senior cabinet minister Shivpal Singh Yadav”. Besides the son of Virendra Singh is an office bearer of the ruling Samajwadi Party. This was, however, he had said, ‘subject to further verification’.
But on December 27, Shivpal Yadav, in a statement, rejected claims there was any such family relation with Virendra Singh.
The CJ’s letter had prompted a petition by one Sachidanand Gupta, which had led to the court putting a stay on Virendra Singh’s appointment on December 19 - a day before Singh was to take his oath. The petitioner had cited objections raised by the Chief Justice. The Apex court will hear the case on January 19.