Panaji, Mar 11 (IANS): The appointment of Goa's first Lokayukta is fraught with suspicion, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Goa has claimed.

The party's chief spokesperson Trajano D'Mello Monday said that the process of appointment of B. Sudharshan Reddy, a retired Supreme Court judge, was carried out in a "clandestine" manner.

"There were three judges who had put up their applications for the post of Lokayukta. All these three names were ignored. Instead, the government appointed a search committee and came up with three more names, from which Reddy was selected," D'Mello said.

The three judges D'Mello refers to are Justices H.R. Malhotra, formerly of the Delhi High Court and M. Ramachandra and Sasidaran Nambiar of the Kerala High Court.

D'Mello says that information sourced via the right to information channel revealed that the government had formed a "search committee" comprising the chief secretary, law secretary and the advocate general to search for more candidates for the post of Lokayukta, after the chief minister said on record that "he did not need yes-men" for the post.

"The search committee identified V.R. Kingaokar of the Bombay High Court and P. Ravindran and B. Sudarshan Reddy. On what basis were these justices shortlisted? And how was the selection made? The entire process has been kept under wraps by Goa government," D'Mello said, adding that all the papers related to the appointment should be placed on the table of the Goa legislative assembly by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar when the house meets March 18 for the budget session.