Uttarakhand High Court directs respondents to file affidavit disclosing status on establishment of Lokayukta Institution

The Uttarakhand High Court directed the respondents to file an additional affidavit disclosing the status with regard to establishment of the Lokayukta Institution.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Alok Kumar Verma heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking a direction to the respondents for establishment of the Lokayukta Institution and enforcement of the Lokayukta Act, 2014, and to make appointment of the Chairman / Members of the Lokayukta Institution.

Rajeev Singh Bisht, counsel for the petitioner submits that the respondents may be directed to file the latest report with regard to enforcement of the aforesaid Act.

He further submits that the State is reportedly spending crores of rupees every year without the Institution of Lokayukta being operational.

Therefore the Court directed the respondents to file an additional affidavit disclosing the status with regard to establishment of the Lokayukta Institution.

‘It should also be disclosed what is the expenditure incurred on the said Institution since inception year-wise upto 31st March, 2023. The affidavit be filed within three weeks. List on 08.05.2023’, the order reads.