Justice Ajit Singh appointed as first Lokayukta of Odisha

Former Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Ajit Singh is appointed as the first Lokayukta of Odisha.

Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal has approved his name following the recommendation of selection committee headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik which unanimously selected Ajit Singh as the Lokayukta chairperson.

It is worth mentioning that Odisha was the first State to pass the Lokayukta Bill in the Assembly in February 2014.

Born on September 6, 1956, Singh started his career as an advocate in 1979. He started his practice in Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur and was later appointed an additional judge there on April 1, 2002 and became the permanent judge on March 21, 2003.

He was then transferred and took oath as judge in Rajasthan HC on March 19, 2015 from where he was again transferred and appointed as Chief Justice of Gauhati HC on March 5, 2016. He retired on September 5, 2018.

Earlier on February 11, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi had submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court informing that Lokyukta would be appointed by March 31 and start functioning by April 8 in Odisha.

Later, the next day (February 12), the selection committee headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and others including Opposition leader Narasingha Mishra, Assembly Speaker Pradip Amat, Chief Justice of Orissa High Court K S Jhaveri and former Supreme Court judge Ananga Patnaik unanimously recommended the name of Singh for the post.

ALSO READ: Lost 28 times, this Odisha man to contest Lok Sabha polls again