Supreme Court pulls up government over delay in appointing Lok Pal

The Supreme Court has condemned the union government over the delay in appointing an Ombudsman or Lokpal. The appointment of Lok Pal has not happened despite the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 received Presidential assent as early as January 1, 2014. The union government has conveyed that it could not appoint Lok Pal as the law provides that the Leader of Opposition (LoP) has to be on the selection committee, but in the present Lok Sabha there is no Leader of Opposition. At present, Congress which is the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha has only 45 members and falls short of the required 10% of total seats. This has given rise to the need to amend the present Lok Pal Act to include the leader of largest opposition party instead of LoP. The amendment bill is still pending in the Parliament.