Justice Sanjay Mishra appointed as Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh

Before the Vacation Bench, Senior Advocate TR Andhyarujina, appeared for the Allahabad High Court and had argued that the UP government had misled the Supreme Court into believing that Virendra Singh’s name was not objected to by the Allahabad Chief Justice. The bench, recalling its order, also referred to an earlier judgment holding that the views of the HC Chief Justice should be accorded primacy in such appointments.

The appointment of Lokayukta in UP had snowballed into a major controversy past year with Governor Ram Naik refusing to accept the name of Justice (retd) Raveendra Singh and asking the chief minister to follow proper procedure for selecting the ombudsman.

The Supreme Court on Thursday recalled its December 2015 verdict appointing retired Allahabad high court judge justice Virendra Singh as the Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh and appointed former HC judge Sanjay Misra as the new ombudsman. The decision was taken by the Supreme Court’s bench comprising of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Prafulla C Pant on January 28, 2016.

However, Chief Justice Chandrachud and the leader of Opposition in UP Swami Prasad Maury of Mayawati’s BSP, clearly registered objections against Singh’s candidature before the court.

“We can only wish that the above reservation of the Hon’ble Chief Justice had been placed before us before we had passed our earlier order dated December 16, 2015 in Writ Petition…”

The last person who held the office of Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh was Justice N.K. Mehrotra.

On December 16, in a rare order, the court exercised its Constitutional authority and appointed Singh, as Lokayukta.