Incident 2day
Amid protests and a walkout by Opposition MLAs in the Assembly, the
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday pushed through a new Gujarat
Lokayukta Aayog Bill, 2013 that seeks to end the role of the Governor
and the Chief Justice of the High Court in appointing the ombudsman.
The Bill proposes a seven-member selection panel headed by the Chief
Minister, which will recommend a candidate for the Lokayukta’s post, and
the Governor’s role would only be to ratify the candidate. The other
members will be a minister hand-picked by the Chief Minister, the
Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, a High Court judge nominated by
the Chief Justice and the State Vigilance Commissioner.
The existing Gujarat Lokayukta Act, 1986, empowers the Governor to
appoint the ombudsman in consultation with the Chief Justice and the
Leader of Opposition. This has now been done away with.
The proposed law comes in the wake of a veritable slugfest between
Governor Kamla Beniwal and Chief Minister Narendra Modi after Raj Bhavan
appointed retired judge R.A. Mehta in August 2011 in consultation with
the Chief Justice and the Leader of the Opposition, ignoring the Council
of Ministers.
The government lost this battle in the Supreme Court and after its
review petition was also rejected, it moved a curative petition
challenging Justice Mehta’s appointment.
Defending the government in the Assembly, Finance Minister Nitin Patel
refuted the charge that the Bill sought to curtail the Governor's powers
and that its sole purpose was to prevent Justice Mehta from taking
charge. The BJP in an explanatory note, later, also stated that the Bill
protects the right of Justice Mehta to take charge though he has passed
the age of 72 years as prescribed by the new legislation.
Interestingly, the BJP’s central leadership has defended Gujarat, saying
the Bill in fact diluted the powers of the Council of Ministers.
In a note distributed to the media, the BJP said the Supreme Court had
said the Governor is supposed to act as head of state “on the aid and
advice of Council of Ministers while deciding on appointment of
Lokayukta.” The party pointed out that instead of the Council of
Ministers, a panel would now recommend the name of the Lokayukta.
The legislation proposes to bring the entire government machinery, as
well as councillors and elected representatives of all local bodies,
within its purview. The new Lokayukta Commission will have four
up-lokayuktas, two of whom are judicial members and two administrative.
( Online news updated by incident2day )
