Justice PC Ghose has become India’s first Lokpal who will lead the anti-corruption authority with the power to probe graft charges against sitting and former ministers and parliamentarians. His appointment has come five years after the Lokpal Act was notified for effecting a panel of ombudsmen to look into cases of corruption and mal-administration by public servants. His name was finalised and recommended by the Selection Committee, comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and eminent jurist Mukul Rohatgi.
Among his key judgments, Justice Ghose was part of the SC bench that convicted former Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa’s aide Sasikala in the disproportionate assets case (2017). The 66-year-old was also a part of the bench that restored criminal conspiracy charges against senior BJP leaders LK Advani, MM Joshi, union minister Uma Bharti and 13 other leaders in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case. Appointed as Judge at Calcutta HC in 1997, Ghose was elevated as the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2012. He became a Supreme Court judge in 2013, where he served till May 2017
