AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Wednesday upheld justice R A Mehta's appointment as lokayukta and severely rapped chief minister Narendra Modifor the manner in which the entire controversy panned out since mid-2011.
The case had been transferred toJustice VM Sahai after a division benchhad given a split verdict late last year. In his order, Justice Sahai said Governor Dr Kamla was right in exercising her discretionary powers to make the appointment.
The court also observed that Modi had created "a constitutional mini-crisis", and that situation required extraordinary remedies . "For preserving our democracy from being beleaguered and to prevent tyranny, it became absolutely essential for the governor to exercise discretionary power under Article 163 of the Constitution and to appoint Justice (retired) R A Mehta as lokayukta , without or contrary to the aid and advice of the council of ministers headed by the chief minister , as their action and conduct were perilous to our democracy and rule of law ," the verdict said.
Despite the strongly-worded judgment, the Gujarat government stuck to its guns. Government spokesperson Jay Narayan Vyas said, "The issue is whether the governor should be allowed to exercise absolute powers or whether she or he must act on advice from the state's council of ministers. He said the government will study the judgment carefully and, after taking legal opinion , may approach the Supreme Court.
The order was critical of Modi's decision to appointing the justice M B Shah Commission to look into corruption cases and to move Gujarat Lokayukta (Amendment) Ordinance, which would have ensured that the chief justice has no role in the lokayukta's appointment.
Justice Sahai observed in his order , "Chief minister acted under a false impression that he could turn down the superiority and primacy of chief justice's opinion which was binding . The spiteful and challenging action demonstrates the false sense of invincibility."
Cases the lokayukta may probe
