New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday hoped that the appointment of a Lokpal "will be made at the earliest possible".

The court made the comment after attorney-general K.K. Venugopal informed it that a high-powered selection committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a "recommendation" for the appointment of an "eminent jurist" to fill up a selection panel vacancy caused by the death of senior advocate P.P. Rao.

Venugopal, however, did not disclose the name of the eminent person chosen or recommended by the selection committee.

A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R. Banumathi took on record the attorney-general's submission and passed the following written order: "Shri K.K. Venugopal, learned attorney-general, has made a statement that in the meeting of the selection committee held on 10th April, 2018, recommendation for induction/appointment of an eminent jurist in the committee has been made and approval of the said recommendation is presently pending.

"As steps for appointment of the Lokpal have been taken, we do not consider it expedient to pass any further orders at this stage except to express the expectation of the court that the appointment of Lokpal will be made at the earliest possible."

The bench listed the matter for further hearing to May 15.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Common Cause that had challenged the delay in the appointment of the Lokpal, complained in his brief submission on Tuesday that the Centre was dragging its feet for the past four years by giving some excuse or the other.

He said even after four years, the selection committee itself was yet to be fully constituted.

Senior advocate Rao, who was part of the high-powered selection panel headed by the Prime Minister, passed away last year.

The selection committee for the appointment of the Lokpal and its eight members has the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the leader of the Opposition, the Chief Justice of India and one eminent jurist to be nominated by the other three members.

Notified on January 16, 2014, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, has been hanging fire as the Modi government refused to constitute it on the ground that there was no leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and several amendments had been proposed that are under Parliament's consideration.

The bench was dealing with a contempt application moved by Common Cause against department of personnel and training secretary Ajay Mittal over the delay in the appointment of the country's first anti-corruption ombudsman despite an apex court directive in April last year to expedite the process.

The Centre's alleged intransigence has been challenged in the top court by two NGOs - Common Cause and Youth For Equality.

Subsequently, the Centre decided to amend the rules to include the leader of the single largest Opposition party if there is no leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. However, the proposed amendment has not been carried out.