The President of India has appointed Justice AM Khanwilkar, the former Supreme Court judge as the Chairperson of the Lok Pal.
Justice Lingappa Swamy, the former HP High Court Chief Justice and Karnataka High Court Judge, Justice Sanjay Yadav, the former Allahabad High Court CJ, Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, the former Karnataka High Court CJ and Allahabad High Court judge, the present Chairperson of the Law Commission of India are the judicial members.
The former civil servants Sushil Chandra, ex-CEC, Pankaj Kumar and Ajay Tirkey are appointed as the non-judicial members of Lokpal.
The Lokpal has jurisdiction over central government to inquire into allegations of corruption against its public functionaries which includes the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, members of parliament, Group A officials of the Central Government and for matters connecting them.
Therefore, the Lok Pal and Lok Ayuktas Act was passed in 2013 and as per Section 4 of the Act, the Chairperson and Members shall be appointed by the President after obtaining the recommendations of a Selection Committee consists as follows:
(a) The Prime Minister—Chairperson;
(b) The Speaker of the House of the People—Member;
(c) The Leader of Opposition in the House of the People—Member;
d) The Chief Justice of India or a Judge of the Supreme Court is being nominated by him—Member;
(e) one eminent jurist, as it is recommended by the Chairperson and Members referred to in clauses (a) to (d) above, to be nominated by the President—Member.
Justice PC Ghose, the first Lok Pal Chairperson was appointed in March in the year 2019.
Justice Pradip Kumar Mohnaty has been officiating as the Acting Chairperson of Lok Pal since May 2022.
Justice Khanwilkar was a judge of the Supreme Court from May 13, 2016 to July 29, 2022. Before his elevation to the Supreme Court, he was the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and Himachal Pradesh High Court and a judge of the Bombay High Court.
At the Supreme Court, Justice Khanwilkar was part of several Constitution judgments such as the decriminalisation of homosexuality, Sabarimala women entry, validity of Aadhaar etc. thus, he also led the bench which upheld the exoneration of Narendra Modi in the 2002 riots case, wherein it upheld the validity of the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and FCRA amendments.
