Agartala, Feb 22 (IANS): In the absence of a recognised Leader of Opposition in the Tripura Assembly, the issue of appointment of Lokayukta has been hanging fire in the state since last December, forcing the Left Front government to amend the existing act.

According to the Tripura Lokayukta Act, 2008, the Chief Minister, in consultation with the Assembly Speaker and the Leader of Opposition, would advise the Governor to appoint the Lokayukta to deal with complaints of corruption.

"The five-year term of Lokayukta Pradip Kumar Sarkar (a former judge of the Gujarat and Gauhati high courts) ended on December 16 last year. In the absence of a recognised opposition leader in the state assembly, the post has been lying vacant since then," an official of the Law Department said.

He said: "To overcome the situation, a bill was passed on Wednesday in the state assembly, amending the existing act to make provision that leader of the single-largest opposition party in the absence of the designated opposition leader would be the member of the three-member Lokayukta Selection Committee."

In the 60-member Tripura Assembly, the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front has 51 members, while the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has six members and the Congress three.

Six MLAs, led by former Leader of Opposition Sudip Roy Barman, quit the Congress on April 7 last year and joined the TMC on June 7 in protest against the Congress's alliance with the Left parties ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections in April-May last year.

Another Congress MLA Jitendra Sarkar resigned from the House in July last year and re-joined the CPI-M, reducing the Congress's strength to only three.

According to constitutional experts, to get recognition as the opposition party, their strength must be equal to the quorum of the House, which is 10 per cent of the total strength of the House.