Patna, Feb. 14: Justice (retired) Shyam Kishore Sharma, a former judge of Patna High Court, has been appointed lokayukta of Bihar, ending a wait of over six months.
Governor Ram Nath Kovind today administered Sharma the oath of office at a function held in Raj Bhavan. Chief minister Nitish Kumar, Legislative Council chairman Awadhesh Narayan Singh and several other dignitaries also attended the function.
The selection panel - comprising the Bihar Legislative Council chairman as convener, the Assembly Speaker, two senior sitting high court judges nominated by the Chief Justice and the immediate outgoing lokayukta - had put the seal on Justice Sharma's name as state ombudsman on January 27 this year.
The lokayukta's post was lying vacant for more than six months following completion of the tenure of Justice C.M. Prasad on August 24, 2016. Justice (retired) Mihir Kumar Jha and retired IAS officer K.C. Saha are the two other members of the office of lokayukta.
The lokayukta is a quasi judicial body that plays a part in providing clean, transparent and accountable government to people. It acts as a watchdog to pinpoint wrongdoings of the administration, looks into complaints of victims of corruption and suggests steps to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the government.
Justice Sharma was born on July 7, 1952. He completed his graduation from SS College, Jehanabad, and LLB from College of Commerce, Patna. He was enrolled as an advocate in December 1979 and was later appointed as additional district & sessions judge in 1991 directly from the Bar. Earlier, Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) appointed him in Bihar Judicial Service but he resigned during the probation period. He was appointed as a permanent high court judge on May 10, 2006, and retired on July 7, 2014.
The lokayukta's office made news last year when the governor had returned the proposed Lokayukta Amendment bill for reconsideration to both Houses of the Bihar legislature for want of mentioning a time-frame within which the process of selection of the lokayukta and its members had to be completed. The governor had mentioned that in the proposed Bihar Lokayukta (Amendment) bill, 2016, no time-frame had been stipulated within which the process of selection of a successor of the office had to be completed.
The matter regarding the member's post lying vacant in the office of lokayukta, Bihar also came up at Patna High Court last year with the court directing the state government to fill up the vacant post of lokayukta in the state.
