Five things you should know about Delhi’s new Lokayukta

Delhi has a new Lokayukta, or an anti-corruption ombudsman. Taking the oath at a function in the national capital today, Former Delhi High Court judge, Justice Reva Khetrapal, took over from retired Justice Manmohan Sarin and will serve a five-year term.

The post had been lying vacant since Justice Sarin relinquished office in 2013, which became of point of conflict between the Aam Aadmi Party and the opposition, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.

Here are five things about the new Lokayukta that you need to know:

1. Born in Shimla, the 63-year-old Justice Khetrapal has become the 4^th Lokayukta of Delhi. She is a Miranda House and Delhi University’s Law Faculty alumni. After practising as a corporate lawyer in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India from 1975-1991, she worked as a counsel for the Delhi Administration. She was appointed as Special Judge (Narcotics) in the year 1994. Between 2006 and 2014, she was a Delhi High Court additional judge.

2. She was appointed as the Secretary of Press Council of India in 1999. She was also a member of the committee that monitored the implementation of guidelines issued for matters related to sexual offences and child witnesses by the Supreme Court and the Delhi High court. Khetrapal has also been a Chairperson of the Delhi Arbitration Committee of the Delhi International Arbitration Centre.

3. Khetrapal been an active member of the Administrative Committee of Delhi High Court, resolving issues related to the administration of the High Court.

4. In her capacity as the Delhi High court judge, Justice Khetrapal was instrumental in moving forward the Scheme for Financial Sustenance, Education and Welfare of Children on Incarcerate Parents, which was promulgated on August 13, 2014. Touted as a one of a kind scheme in the country, it seeks to provide financial assistance to children who are in a situation where one or both of their earning parents are in prison.

5. It was a bench of justices Reva Khetrapal and Pratibha Rani which upheld the death sentence of the four convicts in the December 16, 2012 gangrape, saying that the crime falls in the rarest of the rare category.

It was in the year 1966 that the Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Morarji Desai submitted a proposal for the creation of an anti-corruption body called the Lokayukta in every state and to form the Lokpal at the centre. While Delhi has got its new Lokayukta after two years, the centre is yet to get the Lokpal. This point was echoed by many on Twitter, where people tweeted out their cynicism, right after Khetrapal took the oath.