Chandigarh, April 11 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday sought response from the Punjab government on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the Punjab government to initiate the process for the appointment of lokpal. The post has been lying vacant for the past six months, thereby rendering the statutory anti-corruption mechanism under the Punjab Lokpal Act, 1996, redundant and defeating the very object of ensuring transparency, accountability and probity in public administration, the PIL filed by one Vishal Mehta, a lawyer, said.

The plea was taken up by the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry and has sought response from the government by May 7.

The petitioner underlined that the in...