Remove governor as respondent, high court tells Gujarat govt

A bench of Gujarat high court, on Monday, directed the government to remove Gujarat governor Dr Kamla’s name as a respondent in the petition challenging the appointment of justice (retired) RA Mehta as the Lok Ayukta of the state.

The bench of Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice Sonia Gokani also directed that the registrar-general of the high court be made a party respondent. This was because the chief justice of Gujarat had been consulted in the whole issue.

The bench will make further hearing on September 5.

But before that, the state government needs to decide who can be made a respondent in the petition challenging the governor’s move to appoint Mehta as the Lok Ayukta.

The governor made the appointment using her special powers under section 3 of the Lok Ayukta Act, 1986. The bench issued the order following arguments by senior counsel SN Shelat on behalf of the governor.

Shelat objected to the government’s move by contending that the governor or president cannot be made a party respondent in the petition under Article 361 of the Constitution.     

In his argument, Shelat said the president and the governor are high-ranking constitutional functionaries and they cannot be made respondents by the government. 

"Several judgments of the Apex Court and high court point to this," he said. Advocate-general Kamal Trivedi and government pleader Prakash Jani, however, countered the argument by stating that the governor can be made a respondent. They argued that the process through which the Lok Ayukta was appointed should be examined.

"This is very important in this case where the government is being accused of delay in the matter despite the fact that it started the process to appoint a Lokayukta way back in 2006," they argued.

When Shelat opposed the argument, the government lawyers suggested making the principal secretary (of the Gujarat government) who looks after the affairs of the governor house or the Central government, as a party.

However, Shelat opposed both the suggestions. The bench also heard a petition filed by Bhikha Jethva challenging government action for non-appointment of Lok Ayukta in the state.

Meanwhile, three more PILs have been filed before the high on the same issue. Senior counsel Girish Patel, on behalf of Jethva, said that the Jan Lokpal Bill is an attempt to bring transparency and the government in this case should accept the appointment of the Lok Aayukta instead of opposing it. On August 26, Dr Kamla had issued a notification appointing justice RA Mehta as the Lok Ayukta. The Modi government had then urgently approached the court challenging the appointment on the grounds that it was "unconstitutional and done by bypassing the state government".