UPPSC 2024 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 130 of 150

Correct — D, 1, 3 and 4. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 builds its Selection Committee out of five people, and the question's stem has already given away the first of them: the Prime Minister, who chairs it. The remaining four are the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice of India or a Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him, and one eminent jurist nominated by the President on the recommendation of the other four. Statements 1, 3 and 4 name three of those four exactly; the eminent jurist is what the stem's phrase 'among others' is covering. Statement 2 is the falsifier. The Chairman of the Rajya Sabha — who is the Vice-President of India, sitting ex officio under Article 64 — has no place on this committee. The design is deliberate and it repeats across India's anti-corruption statutes: the political element is drawn from the popular House alone, the Lok Sabha, through its Speaker and its Leader of Opposition, and the non-political element comes from the judiciary and from an eminent jurist. The Rajya Sabha, being an indirectly elected chamber whose presiding officer is the Vice-President, is kept out. Read the code before you read the statements, and this becomes a one-decision question: three of the four options carry statement 2, so if you know the Vice-President is not on the committee, only (d) can survive.

• (a)1, 2 and 3 — It makes two errors at once. It brings in the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, who is not a member, and it drops the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who certainly is — indeed his presence is the single most argued-over feature of the Act, because the Lok Sabha had no recognised Leader of Opposition for years after 2014 and the composition of this very committee became a matter of public controversy.
• (b)2, 3 and 4 — It gets the two Lok Sabha functionaries right but again inserts the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and this time it also drops the judicial member. The Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court Judge nominated by him is on the committee, and that is what gives the appointment its non-partisan anchor; a Selection Committee with no judicial voice would defeat the design of the Act.
• (c)1, 2, 3 and 4 — The trap for the candidate who recognises three correct names and stops reading. Statements 1, 3 and 4 are all right, but adding statement 2 sinks the option: the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is not on the Lokpal Selection Committee. In 'select the correct statements' items, one wrong inclusion is enough, and the all-of-the-above option is where a wrong inclusion is most often hidden.

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 created a national anti-corruption ombudsman with jurisdiction over public servants including, subject to safeguards, the Prime Minister. Because the body is meant to investigate the executive, the Act removes the appointment from the executive's sole control and vests it in a five-member Selection Committee — Prime Minister as chairperson, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court Judge nominated by him, and an eminent jurist nominated by the President on the recommendation of the first four. That committee may in turn constitute a Search Committee to shortlist names, and the President makes the formal appointment.

Every one of India's watchdog appointment committees is built from the same small menu — the Prime Minister, the Speaker, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice, the Home Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister — and examiners test whether you can tell them apart. The reliable rule of thumb is that the Rajya Sabha is almost never represented: the Lokpal committee, the Central Vigilance Commission committee, the Central Information Commission committee and the CBI Director committee all draw their parliamentary members from the Lok Sabha alone. The one prominent exception is the National Human Rights Commission, whose selection committee under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 does reach into the Upper House — and even there it is the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Leader of Opposition in that House, not the Chairman. So a statement naming the 'Chairman of the Rajya Sabha' on any of these committees should trigger suspicion immediately: that office belongs to the Vice-President of India, who is kept clear of statutory selection work. Anchoring on that single habit answers this question and a family of others like it.

• Lokpal Selection Committee under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013: the Prime Minister as Chairperson, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice of India or a Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him, and one eminent jurist nominated by the President on the recommendation of the other four. The Committee may constitute a Search Committee to prepare a panel of names.
• The Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is the Vice-President of India, ex officio under Article 64, and holds no place on this committee. By contrast the NHRC selection committee under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 does include the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Leader of Opposition in that House, along with the Prime Minister, the Speaker, the Home Minister and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
• The Lokpal consists of a Chairperson and up to eight Members, of whom not less than half must be judicial members. The Chairperson must be a former Chief Justice of India, a former Judge of the Supreme Court, or an eminent person meeting the Act's criteria; no Chairperson or Member may be less than forty-five years of age on the date of assuming office.
• The Bill was passed by Parliament in December 2013 and received the President's assent on 1 January 2014, making it Act No. 1 of 2014. The Lokpal is a statutory body, not a constitutional one — no Article of the Constitution creates it.
• The first Lokpal Chairperson, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, a former Supreme Court judge, took office on 23 March 2019 — more than five years after the Act received assent. Justice Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar assumed office as Chairperson on 10 March 2024, so he was the sitting Lokpal at the time of this December 2024 examination.

• Assuming the Rajya Sabha is represented on watchdog selection committees. It usually is not; the NHRC committee, which includes the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is the notable exception — and even there it is the Deputy Chairman, never the Chairman.
• Selecting the all-inclusive code because most of its statements are right. One wrong inclusion is fatal, and setters hide the falsifier inside the longest option.
• Treating the Lokpal as a constitutional body. It is purely statutory — created by Act No. 1 of 2014 — just as the Central Vigilance Commission is a creature of a 1964 resolution and later the CVC Act, 2003.

UPPSC likes the 'which of these functionaries sits on the committee' form and plants one plausible but wrong office in the list. UPSC asks the same syllabus differently — statements about the Lokpal's jurisdiction, its composition or whether a body is constitutional or statutory. Learn each watchdog as a triple: creating law, appointing committee, and eligibility of its head.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is NOT a member of the Selection Committee that recommends the appointment of the Chairperson of the Lokpal?

  • (a)Speaker of the Lok Sabha
  • (b)Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
  • (c)Chief Justice of India or a Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him
  • (d)Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha

  Answer(b) Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha — he sits on the NHRC selection committee under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, not on the Lokpal's. The Lokpal committee is the Prime Minister, the Speaker, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the CJI or his nominee, and an eminent jurist.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  With reference to the Lokpal, consider the following statements: 1. It is a constitutional body created by an amendment to the Constitution. 2. It consists of a Chairperson and a maximum of eight Members, of whom not less than half shall be judicial members. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  • (a)1 only
  • (b)2 only
  • (c)Both 1 and 2
  • (d)Neither 1 nor 2

  Answer(b) 2 only — the Lokpal is a statutory body under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 (Act No. 1 of 2014); no Article of the Constitution creates it. Statement 2 states the composition correctly.