The Orissa High Court has imposed a strict deadline on the state government, demanding a detailed report by January 13 on the stalled process to appoint a new chairperson and members for the Odisha Lokayukta. The state's premier anti-corruption ombudsman has been rendered non-functional for over a year due to these critical vacancies, bringing the adjudication of graft complaints to a complete halt.
Court Rejects Government's Plea for More Time
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice M S Raman issued the directive during a hearing on Wednesday. The bench was addressing three separate Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed by citizens Prabir Kumar Das, Manoranjan Sahoo, and Satish Kumar Biswal. The petitioners had brought to light the inordinate delay in filling the vacancies that arose after the retirement of the Lokayukta's top officials.
The court had previously, on September 11, ordered the state government to submit an affidavit within two weeks, outlining the steps taken to initiate appointments. However, during the latest hearing, the government's counsel sought a lengthy extension until March 2025. The state cited a vacancy within the search committee itself as the reason for the delay.
The bench firmly rejected the request for an extension until March, instead granting a shorter timeframe. It fixed January 13, 2025, as the next date of hearing and directed the government to place all relevant facts and the status report before the court on that day.
A Body Crippled by Vacancies
The core of the crisis lies in the complete exhaustion of the Lokayukta's bench. The chairperson, one judicial member, and two other members retired on March 19, March 30, April 3, and August 8 of 2024, respectively. According to Section 6 of the Odisha Lokayukta Act, 2014, the appointment process for their successors is required to be initiated by the governor at least three months before the expiry of their tenure—a provision that was evidently not followed.
The petitioners argued that this failure has made the institution virtually defunct, severely undermining the mechanism to hold public officials accountable. They presented alarming data obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act to illustrate the impact.
Case Backlog Highlights Governance Crisis
The statistics revealed a system in paralysis. In 2024, a total of 444 corruption cases were registered with the Lokayukta. However, due to the diminishing capacity of the body, only 149 cases were disposed of. The situation worsened in 2025. From January 1 to May 31, 2025, 83 new cases were registered, but not a single one has been disposed of due to the absence of a functioning bench to hear them.
The petitioners emphasized that the Lokayukta was established specifically to investigate corruption charges against public functionaries. Its effective operation is not just a procedural formality but a cornerstone for ensuring transparency and accountability in state governance. The current impasse, they contend, creates an environment of impunity and erodes public trust.
The court's intervention and the newly set deadline of January 13 now place significant pressure on the Odisha government to expedite the constitution of the search committee and swiftly move towards appointing a fully functional Lokayukta bench to address the mounting backlog of corruption cases.
