Goa Government Accelerates Appointment of New Lokayukta to Combat Corruption | Goa News

Panaji: After state govt told the Bombay high court that a new Lokayukta would be appointed within six months, it has fast-tracked the appointment process and has received eight names of retired judges from Goa, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.Since the anti-corruption watchdog’s office was rendered inactive 11 months ago, 16 registered cases have been pending and four new cases have been filed. Many people visit the office of the Lokayukta to inquire about the process of filing a complaint, but when they realise that there is no Lokayukta itself, they don’t return with their complaints.Chief minister Pramod Sawant is expected to call a meeting soon to select a new Lokayukta for the state. Earlier, govt had received three names from Goa, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, but failed to make a selection.A senior govt official said govt may get more names before the name for the Lokayukta’s post is finalised.The Goa Lokayukta has been non-functional since the tenure of the Bombay high court’s Justice (retd) Ambadas Joshi ended in Dec 2024. The governor appoints the Lokayukta or Upa-Lokayuktas upon the advice of the chief minister in consultation with the chief justice of the high court and the leader of the opposition.To be appointed as Lokayukta, the candidate should have held the office of a judge of the Supreme Court or of a chief justice of a high court. Similarly, a person to be appointed as the Upa-Lokayukta should have held the office of a judge of a high court or be qualified to be appointed as a judge of a high court.