As a judge of special Central Bureau of Investigation court, Yadav had on September 30, 2020 acquitted all the 32 accused, including BJP veterans LK Advani, M M Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh, in the case of demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
The Lokayukta has found Siddiqui, who is also Bahujan Samaj Party's general secretary and leader of the opposition in the state legislative council (Vidhan Parishad), prima facie guilty of amassing assets far disproportionate to his known and legitimate sources of income.
Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav got Justice N K Mehrotra an extension of two years, nearly a week after he had completed his full-term as UP Lokayukta. Sharat Pradhan reports.
The wait continues for the naming of a new Uttar Pradesh lokayukta as a meeting on Sunday to decide on the same failed to do so with the Allahabad high court chief justice questioning the validity of the process.
Retired Allahabad HC Justice Sanjay Mishra was sworn in as the new Lokayukta of UP bringing to an end a bitter year-long feud between Raj Bhawan and the state government.
The SC recalled its earlier order appointing controversial Justice Virendra Singh as UP Lokayukta and named retired judge Sanjay Mishra as the new ombudsman.
Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta Justice N K Mehrotra on Tuesday recommended an inquiry by an independent agency, including Central Bureau of Investigation or Enforcement Directorate, against former sports minister Ayodhya Prasad Pal in a disproportionate assets case.
In a jolt to former Chief Minister Mayawati, the Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta has said public money worth Rs 1,400 crore was siphoned off in construction of memorials during her regime and indicted 199 people including her close aide and former BSP minister Naseemuddi Siddiqui.
In a major embarrassment for the Uttar Pradesh government, the SC on Wednesday appointed retired judge Justice Virender Singh as the state's Lokayukta.
Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Thursday questioned Narendra Modi as a prime ministerial candidate in the next general elections saying the Gujarat chief minister was not sincere about rooting out corruption as he has not taken steps for setting up a Lokayukta, a post lying vacant since 2003 in the state.
In a bid to allay concerns of states and political parties alike, the government appears to have decided to delink the provision of Lokayuktas in states from the Lokpal Bill.
"BJP national general secretary Kirit Somaiya lodged a complaint against me with Lokayukta, but nothing was found. If I did not have personal relationship with Lokayukta I could have moved the Supreme Court and got him removed," Upadhyaya said while addressing a public meeting in Haathras on Friday evening.
The meeting of the Congress Core Group was held at a time when government is scrambling for numbers to pass the Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha with Trinamool Congress insisting that it will move amendments to delete the provision for setting up Lokayuktas at the state level.
A whistle-blower, who dared to make a complaint to the Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta against a minister, is now being hounded by the latter. Literally terrorised by the minister's sustained intimidation, the whistle-blower is now on the run.
The Trinamool Congress, which has six members in the Rajya Sabha, said it will "strongly" oppose the provision and want the deletion of Part III of The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011, which deals with setting up of Lokayuktas at the state level. "We have already submitted our amendments. We are going to press for it," Mukul Roy, Trinamool leader and minister of state for shipping, told reporters in New Delhi.
The Supreme Court on Monday rapped the Uttar Pradesh government for not appointing Lokayukta in the state despite its directions and ordered compliance by December 16, saying it seemed that appointing authorities have their "own agenda".
Senior Indian Police Service officer Amitabh Thakur, who is locked in a tussle with ruling Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and took his fight to the Centre, was on Monday night suspended by the Uttar Pradesh government.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of chief ministers of party-ruled states to chalk out the party's strategy in the run-up to the general election. The leaders would focus on setting up of Lokayuktas in a time-bound manner in states and curbing food inflation.
Anna Hazare, fasting for the last five days for passage of Lokpal Bill, on Saturday said he was happy with the amended legislation presented in the Rajya Sabha and would call off his hunger strike the moment the law is enacted.
The appointment of former judge of Allahabad High Court Justice Virendra Singh as Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta was on Saturday put on hold after the Supreme Court held a special sitting on a holiday and posed embarrassing questions to the Samajwadi Party government, which was accused of concealing facts and "playing fraud".
Anna Hazare on Tuesday began his indefinite fast at his village in Maharashtra to press for immediate passage of Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament even as Government said it was serious about getting the anti-graft measure passed in the current session itself.
After much delay, the landmark Lokpal Bill was on Tuesday passed by the Rajya Sabha, marking a step closer to enactment of a new law under which an anti-corruption ombudsman would be set up.
'The CBI and its independence was discussed in great detail. We invited and sought the views of the CBI director as well as several government officials. But the ingenious solution to the problem came from within the committee. The effort was to somehow find a solution. It would not have been possible to draft this Bill if members had not been liberal in their views and if they had not been prepared to rid themselves of their political bias.' Congress MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi, who headed the Parliamentary committee which proposed the recommendations for the Lokpal Bill, speaks to Anita Katyal in an exclusive interview.