Supreme Court appoints Justice Sanjay Mishra as new UP Lokayukta

The Supreme Court today appointed former judge of the Allahabad High Court Justice Sanjay Mishra as the Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh.

The apex court bench comprising Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Prafulla C Pant appointed Mishra as the Lokayukta, while recalling their December 16, 2015 order appointing Justice Virendra Singh for the post.

Recalling the sequence of events leading to the appointment of Singh as the Lokayukta on December 16, 2015, the court regretted that constitutional authorities - the chief minister, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) and the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court - despite prolonged meetings could not decide on a simple issue of the appointment of Lokayukta.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had indicated it would pick a new Lokayukta after strong objections were raised to the candidate it selected a month ago.
"We will deal with Uttar Pradesh," the court had warned, blaming the Uttar Pradesh government for misleading the court by stating that Justice Singh had been approved by a committee that included Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, the Leader of the Opposition in the state, and the senior-most judge in the state, the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, DY Chandrachud.