Jaipur:
Former Rajasthan High Court judge Justice Pratap Krishna Lohra took oath as the new Lokayukta of the state at Raj Bhawan here on Tuesday.
Governor Kalraj Mishra administered the oath of office to Justice Lohra.
The post of Rajasthan’s Lokayukta was lying vacant after the term of Justice (retd) S S Kothari ended on March 7, 2019. The post of Lokayukta had been lying vacant in the state for 23 months.
The Raj Bhawan had issued a notification for appointment of Lokayukta on February 27, 2021. Justice Lohra will now be the Lokayukta for the next five years.
After former Lokayukta S S Kothari stepped down, no action could be taken on the complaints coming to the Lokayukta Secretariat.
Kothari worked for six years in the post as the tenure of Lokayukta post was increased from five to eight years by the previous BJP government. However, the Congress that came to power in 2018 again reduced the term to five years.
Kothari was appointed by the Ashok Gehlot-led government in March 2013. His tenure got completed on March 25, 2018, but the BJP government had increased the term by three years through an ordinance just two days before the completion of his term.
This led to the extension of the term of the Lokayukta till March 2021. In March 2019, the Gehlot government again reduced the term to five years because of which Kothari had to step down.
On Tuesday, Justice Lohra took oath in Hindi in the name of God. Chief Secretary Niranjan Arya read out the warrant in Hindi issued by the Governor for his appointment.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria, Minister of Information and Public Relations Raghu Sharma, Minister of State for Education Govind Singh Dotasra, Minister of State for Higher Education Bhanwar Singh Bhati, State of Technical and Sanskrit Education Minister Subhash Garg, Minister of State for Labour Tikaram Julie, Director General of Police M L Lathar, senior administrative and police officers along with the relatives of Lohra were present on the occasion.
