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.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dismisses speculation of a power struggle within the Congress party and addresses concerns regarding the Hate Speech Bill.
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.
Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge, meanwhile, came to Siddaramaiah's defence, stating that the party is standing with him and will support him.
"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.
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.
The BJP in Karnataka has claimed that the Lokayukta probe has cleared the party's previous government from 40 per cent commission charges, calling the allegations by the Congress "false". The BJP leaders claim that the allegations were part of the Congress' "tool kit" and were used during the 2023 Assembly polls to corner the then BJP government. However, the Congress government has stated that they have not yet seen the report and that acquittals happen due to a lack of evidence. The BJP has also alleged that the current Congress government is a "60 per cent commission government" and has cited several scams during their time in power.
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.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in India has declared that cash and gold worth approximately Rs 52 crore, seized from an abandoned SUV in Madhya Pradesh last year, belonged to former state transport department constable Saurabh Sharma. The ED's statement ends months of speculation about the ownership of the seized assets and comes as part of an ongoing investigation into corruption charges against Sharma. The agency has also attached assets worth Rs 92.07 crore belonging to Sharma and his associates, alleging they were acquired through illegal means.
'His willingness to take the initiative to fight for truth and justice and his willingness to cross swords with anyone for a just cause.'
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".
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.
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.
The Supreme Court referred to a larger bench the legal issues stemming from a plea of BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, including the question whether a prior sanction to prosecute is needed under the Prevention of Corruption Act after a magisterial court order of inquiry. The questions revolve around the interplay between the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure on the issue of prior sanction to prosecute a public servant.
Evidence of several irregularities have been detected in the transfer of 14 sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to B M Parvathi, the wife of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, according to the Enforcement Directorate.
The MUDA office in Mysuru and some other locations are being raided by the federal probe agency officials along with an escort of a central paramilitary force, the sources said.
Virtually driven against the wall following indictment by Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta Justice N K Mehrotra, state animal husbandry and dairy development minister Avadhpal Singh Yadav on Wednesday put in his papers, an official spokesman said in Lucknow.
A Special Court in Bengaluru on Wednesday ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case.
Another cabinet minister of the Mayawati government has come under the scanner of the Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta for alleged misuse of office.
The minister wrote he had not said anything against the dignity of the post, however, if dignity of the post was hurt due to wrong selection of words by him, he apologises for it, they said.
In further embarrassment for Chief Minister Mayawati, Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta has now recommended removal of a junior minister, the fifth member of her ministry to be indicted by the anti-corruption ombudsman.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav received a jolt on Tuesday when Governor Ram Naik finally rejected his recommendation for the appointment of the state's Lokayukta.
The cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav decided to keep the Lokayukta out of the purview of the RTI Act, a senior official said.
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 Delhi Lokayukta on Wednesday indicted Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for allegedly misusing government funds for carrying out an advertisement campaign with a "political purpose" ahead of assembly elections in 2008.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday announced that the Lokayukta for the state would be appointed by August this year.
The move by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's son Rahul Kharge comes close on the heels of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's wife Parvathi returning the 14 sites to Mysuru Urban Development Authority after the Lokayukta police registered a case against Siddaramaiah, his wife and brother-in-law.
Justice Shivraj Patil, former Judge of the Supreme Court will replace Justice Santhosh Hegde as the next Lokayukta of Karnataka next month. Speaking for the first time after his name was cleared by the Karnataka administration for the post, Patil tells Vicky Nanjappa in this short interview, that he is up to the challenge.
Shivakumar took stock of the incident in which five people lost their lives.
The Supreme Court judgement is based on this paradox. Gujarat will now have a Lokayukta whom the council of ministers never recommended. Constitutional short-cuts do not establish either good governance or good precedents, says Arun Jaitley.
Former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde on Monday said he was not willing to be Goa Lokayukta, even if that office was offered to him.
When the governor and chief justice objected to his choice, the UP chief minister just changed the law.
The Karnataka high Court on Friday ordered issue of notices to the Lokayukta police and the complainants in two anticipatory bail applications filed by former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in two private complaints filed before the Lokayukta court in alleged land scam cases.
The Aam Aadmi Party government on Friday told the Delhi high court that it has initiated the process to appoint Lokayukta, a post which has remained vacant since November 2013.
Former Delhi high court judge Reva Khetrapal will be Delhi's new Lokayukta, a post which was lying vacant since 2013.