Bengaluru: If sources are to be believed, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday stood by his stand to appoint Karnataka Law Commission Chairman, Justice S R Nayak, as the new Lokayukta.

The CM had announced the name of justice Nayak at a meeting of the high-level committee constituted to select the anti-corruption ombudsman, in Bengaluru.

Besides the chief minister, the committee comprises Acting Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court?S?K?Mukherjee, Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa, Legislative Council Chairman D?H?Shankarmurthy, Leaders of the Opposition in the two Houses of the legislature Jagadish?Shettar and K?S?Eshwarappa. Justice Mukherjee and Thimmappa did not attend Friday’s meeting but sent letters indicating their choice.

The opposition has been batting for appointment of Supreme Court judge Justice Vikramjit Sen for the post of Lokayukta, on the basis that Justice Sen had a clean image and had impeccable credentials. It was also pointed out that there were controversies surrounding properties owned by Justice Nayak.

The post of Lokayukta has been lying vacant since December last year following the resignation of Justice Y Bhaskar Rao.

The government favouring Justice Nayak for Lokayukta had generated a heated debate in the public domain, with some activists accusing Nayak of committing irregularities in connection with the allotment of a site by the Karnataka Judicial Employees Housing Cooperative Society.

The governor had thrice rejected the choice of Justice K?L Manjunath for the post of Upa Lokayukta.