Lokpal member Justice Babasaheb Bhosale steps down citing personal reasons

Anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal's member Justice Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale has resigned from the post, nearly ten months after he was administered the oath of office for a five-year term, the Personnel Ministry has said.

Bhosale has tendered his resignation from the office of member (judicial), Lokpal with effect from the afternoon of January 12, 2020, it said in an order.

"I have tendered my resignation from the post of judicial member Lokpal on January 6, with effect from January 12, 2020 due to personal reasons," he had said in a tweet after PTI had reported about his resignation on January 9.

A former chief justice of the Allahabad High Court, Bhosale was administered the oath of office by Lokpal chairman Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose on March 27, 2019.

A Lokpal member is appointed for a five-year term or till attaining the age of 70.

Bhosale, 63, comes from a family of freedom fighters. He served as judge of the high courts of Bombay and Karnataka and as acting chief justice of the high court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for 15 months (2015-2016).

According to rules, an incumbent on ceasing office as a Lokpal member is barred from taking up any diplomatic assignment or contesting any election of president, vice president, member of either House of Parliament or State Legislature among others.

There is a provision for a chairperson and a maximum of eight members in the Lokpal panel. Of these, four need to be judicial members.

All the eight Lokpal members were administered the oath of office by Justice Ghose on March 27.

Besides Bhosale, former chief justices of different high courts -- Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Abhilasha Kumari and Ajay Kumar Tripathi -- had taken oath as judicial members of the Lokpal.

The first woman chief of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Archana Ramasundaram, ex-Maharashtra chief secretary Dinesh Kumar Jain, former IRS officer Mahender Singh and Gujarat cadre ex-IAS officer Indrajeet Prasad Gautam were sworn in as the Lokpal's non-judicial members.

The Lokpal Act, which envisages the appointment of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.

The government is working on finalising a format to file a complaint with the Lokpal. As per norms, a complaint shall be filed in the prescribed form to be notified by the central government.

Lokpal received 1,065 complaints till September 30, 2019. Of these, 1,000 have been heard and disposed of, according to latest official data.