Ranchi, Mar 23 The Jharkhand government informed the High Court on Monday that a decision will be taken soon for the appointment of Lokayukta and the chief election commissioner in the state.
Advocate General Rajiv Ranjan submitted before a division bench of Chief Justice MS Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar that a meeting of the committee for selecting candidates to hold the office of Lokayukta and chief election commissioner is scheduled to be held on March 25.
The Jharkhand High Court, which was hearing a public interest litigation, adjourned the matter to be heard again on April 1.
The court cautioned the government that it will be constrained to pass harsh orders if the statements made by the government are not complied with.
In the course of hearing, petitioner Raj Kumar informed the court that the posts of Lokayukta, chairman of State Human Rights Commission, chief information commissioner, information commissioners, as well as other constitutional posts had been lying vacant for more than three years.
The government has not made any appointments nor shortlisted candidates for holding such offices, and people are suffering because of that, the petitioner claimed.
Kumar also mentioned in his petition that more than 30,000 applications under the RTI Act are pending since the posts of information commissioners are vacant.
