Govt to request HC for list of retd judges for Lokayukta post

Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday said that state govt will write to the high court to share the list of retired judges to appoint a new Goa Lokayukta. The Goa Lokayukta is non-functional since the tenure of Bombay high court judge Justice (retd) Ambadas Joshi ended in Dec 2024.
The directorate of vigilance has moved a proposal to govt to appoint a new Lokayukta in Goa. “We will write to the high court to share the list of retired judges, and state govt will approach the judges for their consent. We will appoint a new Lokayukta as soon as possible,” Sawant told TOI.
Since the anti-corruption watchdog’s office is inactive, around 14 cases are pending.
State govt appointed Joshi as Lokayukta in April 2021 after a gap of around six months since his predecessor Justice (retd) P K Misra’s term ended on Sep 17, 2020. Before the appointment of Joshi as Lokayukta, state govt had finalised the name of Justice (retd) U V Bakre, but in March 2021, he withdrew his consent to be appointed as Lokayukta, citing “personal reasons”.
A senior officer said that as per the procedure, once they receive consent from the judges, a three-member committee meeting will be called to finalise the name. The chief minister and leader of the opposition are the members of the committee.
In case state govt does not get the names of retired judges, then state govt may approach the Supreme Court to get the names of retired judges to appoint a new Lokayukta for Goa.
After govt failed to get consent to appoint a Supreme Court judge or a retired chief justice of the high court, state govt amended the act so that a retired high court judge could be appointed as the Lokayukta.