Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
Former Delhi high court judge Justice Reva Khetrapal took oath as the new Lokayukta of Delhi on Thursday.
Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung administered the oath at a function where Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was also.
Khetarpal will serve a five-year term.
The post has remained vacant since November 2013, when retired Justice Manmohan Sarin relinquished office.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was criticised over the delay in the appointment of Lokayukta by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
Senior advocate Shanti Bhushan and advocate Prashant Bhushan have dubbed the proposed draft Jan Lokpal Bill 2015 as the “Jokepal Bill”, and have alleged that it is a ‘maliciously’ weakened draft of the original Lokpal Bill of 2011 by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). If at all the centre passes the bill it will be an instrument in the hands of the Delhi government to save its own legislative assembly members, allege the Bhushans.
"Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has given charge of the ministry to his deputy Manish Sisodia and removed Kapil Mishra,” reported NDTV, citing sources who said Mishra would focus on the tourism and water ministry.
Just over two months ago, Mishra was appointed to replace Jitender Singh Tomar, who was arrested over an alleged faked degree certificate after having inherited the ministry from Somnath Bharti.
No law minister has so far taken any steps towards the party’s manifesto promise of introducing cameras in Delhi courtrooms.
The union government will urge the Supreme Court’s e-committee to allow audio-visual (AV) recording of Supreme Court proceedings to “usher transparency as it would discourage witnesses from retracting their statements” and to prevent “unwarranted delay in trials (through re-recording of witness testimony)”, reported the PTI.
The law ministry cited law commission chairman justice AP Shah’s pilot project of recording court proceedings in district courts, to request the e-committee to reconsider the AV recording proposal it had rejected last year.
AV recording of court proceedings was in the agenda of the Aam Aadmi Party during its short-lived tenure forming the Delhi government in February 2014, but does not find a place in the agenda of the party currently as it forms the Delhi government for the second-time.
53-year-old businessman-turned-lawyer Deepak Khosla who has been fighting to allow AV recording in courtrooms for years now had a win of sorts in the Calcutta high court in June when the court’s registrar allowed recording his proceedings with Khaitan & Co.
Calcutta high court Justice Aniruddha Bose made history this July as probably the first high court chamber to install a permanent video camera and a microphone on the request of Khosla.
Kapil Mishra to be Delhi’s new Law and Tourism Minister replacing jailed Jitender Singh Tomar.
The Delhi high court today issued notice to Delhi Aam Aadmi Party’s law minister Jitender Singh Tomar after a new petition, this time by the BJP politician Tomar had defeated in elections, that Tomar had enrolled himself as an advocate on the basis of a “false and bogus” science degree, reported Zee News.
On 13 February 2014, towards the tail-end of the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) short-lived first tenure in charge of Delhi, then-Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti wrote a 15-page letter to his party colleagues.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), set to win Delhi in a landslide election today, has promised to video court proceedings, while running courts in double shifts “if required” to clear backlogs.