Centre forms eight-member search committee to recommend names for Lokpal chairman, members

New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday constituted an eight-member search committee, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, to recommend the chairperson and members of the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal.Former chief of State Bank of India (SBI) Arundhati Bhattacharya, Prasar Bharati chairperson A Surya Prakash and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) head AS Kiran Kumar are the members of the search committee, according to an official order issued by personnel ministry.Besides them, Justice Sakha Ram Singh Yadav, former judge of Allahabad High Court Shabbirhusein S Khandwawala, former Gujarat Police head Lalit K Panwar, retired IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, and Ranjit Kumar are the other members of the panel, it said.“The search committee is a major step towards setting up of the Lokpal. The committee will start its functioning soon,” a senior official said.