Jharkhand Lokayukta Appointment: Selection Committee Meets, CM's Absence Delays Decision

Ranchi: Advocate general (AG) Rajiv Ranjan on Wednesday informed Jharkhand high Court that the govt has conducted the selection committee meeting for finalising candidates for the post of Lokayukta.Ranjan went on to inform that the committee met on March 25. However, no final decision has been taken in the matter yet as chief minister Hemant Soren is out of station, Ranjan informed the HC.The court, after having heard the AG, postponed the case to be taken up again on April 13. A division bench of Chief Justice MS Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar were hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed for appointment of the Lokayukta, the chairman of the human rights commission and chief information commissioner in Jharkhand.The PIL has been filed by Raj Kumar stating that constitutional posts in various commissions are lying vacant in the state for the past couple of years. The govt has not taken any step in making appointments of the heads of the commissions due to which the public have been suffering, the PIL claimed.Kumar also mentioned in his petition that more than 30,000 applications under the RTI Act are pending for post of information commissioners falling vacant.