Retd HC judge Asim Kumar Roy appointed Bengal Lokayukta

Retired Calcutta High Court judge Asim Kumar Roy was on Friday appointed the Lokayukta of West Bengal, officials said.

Roy will occupy the post for three years, they said.

He will be the second Lokayukta in the state after Samaresh Banerjee, who had served in the post between 2006 and 2009.

Since then the post of Lokayukta had remained vaccant in the state.

The decision to appoint Roy as the next Lokayukta of the state was taken at a meeting in the state assembly in which Speaker Biman Banerjee and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were present, the officials said.

The West Bengal Assembly had in July passed the Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2018, keeping the chief minister out of its purview in matters relating to public order.

It, however, allows the Lokayukta to investigate matters relating to the chief minister on the remaining 58 subjects under the State List with the approval of two-third of the members of the assembly present and voting.

There are 59 subjects in the State List.

The TMC government had then said recruitment of police, deployment of forces and any other emergency situations would be regarded as public order.

The meeting decided to appoint senior IPS officer Raj Kanojia, who had resigned in July this year as the state information commissioner, the officials said.

Former state DGP Naparajit Mukherjee was given an extension as a member of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, they said.