Justice PC Ghose appointed as India's first-ever Lokpal chairperson; Full list of members appointed by President Kovind here

President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday officially announced India's first-ever Lokpal, with Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose confirmed as the Chairperson of the committee.

A press statement was released in this regard which mentioned the President appointing the retired Supreme Court judge as the head of the Lokpal, with eight other judicial and non-judicial members also being appointed.

The President of India has been pleased to appoint the following as Lokpal:-
 
Chairperson
1.   Shri Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose
 
Judicial Members
2.   Shri Justice Dilip B. Bhosale
3.   Shri Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty
4.   Smt. Justice Abhilasha Kumari
5.   Shri Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi
 
Members other than Judicial Members
6.   Shri Dinesh Kumar Jain
7.   Smt. Archana Ramasundaram
8.   Shri Mahender Singh
9.   Dr. Indrajeet Prasad Gautam

The above appointments will take effect from the dates they assume charge of their respective offices.

Justice Pinaki Ghose served a tenure of four years in the Supreme Court, before retiring in May 2017. Before being appointed as the Lokpal, he served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). 

The Lokpal Bill was first introduced by Advocate Shanti Bhushan, whose purpose was to reduce corruption in the government. It was not passed at that time. The demand for the Bill gathered public attention and support after a massive movement led by activists Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal , Kiran Bedi, (both who had then not entered politics then) and several other notable civil society members and was finally passed in 2013 by the Centre.

READ: India Is All Set To Get Its First Lokpal, Here's All You Need To Know About The Act

The Lokpal Act, which envisages the establishment of the anti-graft body Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.

Provisions of the Act:

• The Act consists of a team called Lokpal which is headed by a chairperson and consists of eight people
• The committee has the power to probe people having acquiring money through corrupt means.
• All categories of public servants will fall under the Lokpal for scrunity including the Prime Minister.
• The Indian armed forces will be exempted from the Act.