Goa Govt appoints Justice PK Mishra as Lokayukta

Justice PK Mishra, former Chief Justice of Patna High Court, was on 20 April 2016 appointed as the Lokayukta of Goa. The decision in this regard was taken by the state government.
•    The announcement was made by the Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar after state government obtained the consensus of the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and the Leader of Opposition in the Goa Assembly as stipulated in the Lokayukta Act, 2013.
•    Now the state Cabinet will be recommend name of Justice Mishra to Mridula Sinha, Governor of Goa for appointment.
•    Mishra had recently retired as the Chairman of Goa State Human Rights commission. He retired as Chief Justice of Patna High Court before taking up his assignment in Goa. 
•    The post of the Lokayukta of Goa was lying vacant for the last two years. Goa’s first Lokayukta Justice (Retd) Sudarshan Reddy had resigned within seven months of his appointment in October  2013 and since then the post was vacant for more than two years.
•    His resignation left investigations of 21 cases, including the crucial illegal mining scam and the recruitments in government department, pending before the ombudsman in the State.
•    As per the Lokayukta Act, 2013, the Governor is the final authority to appoint the Lokayukta on the advice tendered by the Chief Minister, in consultation with the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and the Leader of the Opposition.
•    It also speaks that a person to be appointed as Lokayukta shall be a person who has held the office of a judge of the Supreme Court or a Chief Justice of the High Court.