New Lokayukta bill curtailing Guv's powers passed in Gujarat assembly

The legislation proposes sweeping powers to chief minister for appointment of lokayukta

The new Gujarat Lokayukta Commission Bill, 2013, which would give sweeping powers to the Chief Minister while curtailing powers of the Governor and the chief justice of Gujarat High Court in appointment of lokayukta, was passed on Tuesday with majority voice vote in the Gujarat assembly even as the opposition Congress staged a walkout in protest.

This new legislation will replace the existing Gujarat Lokayukta Act, 1986.

The Bill, proposes formation of a selection committee headed by the Chief Minister for the appointment of lokayukta, and the Governor can only appoint a person recommended by the selection committee as lokayukta, which is not the case in existing Act.

It also does not include chief justice of the Gujarat High Court in the selection committee. Instead, it includes a judge of the High Court, who will be nominated by the high court chief justice.

The new bill widen the scope of lokayukta by including officials of local bodies, besides chief minister and council of minister.

It proposes that if a complaint was filed against a minister, the lokayukta would submit its report with recommendations to the chief minister, who will take action after consulting the council of ministers.

However, the bill has not stated what would be the case if the complaint before lokayukta was made against the chief minister.

The Bill was tabled in the assembly on Tuesday with opposition from the Congress, despite the fact that the state government has already filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court challenging the appointment of retd Justice R A Mehta as lokayukta of Gujarat by Governor Dr Kamla Beniwal in August 2011.

The Apex court had upheld the appointment of Mehta by the Governor. It had also rejected the review petition filed by the Narendra Modi government recently.

The Congress opposed the tabling of the bill claiming that the matter was pending with the Apex Court. The state government, however, informed the house that the claused which was under challenge in the Supreme court has not been included in the new bill. And, also, the passing of new bill will not affect appointment of Mehta, which has been upheld by the SC.

On this Speaker Vaju Vala allowed the finance minister Nitin Patel to introduce the bill and initiated discussion on it. Opposing the new legislation leader of the opposition Congress party Shankarasinh Vaghela said that this was an attempt by the Modi government to gain control over lokayukta.

"If the government was truly willing to have a good lokayukta in the state, they should first withdraw the curative petition filed in Supreme Court," Vaghela added.

Disapproving of the new provisions in the bill, Vaghela said that the government was trying to avoid democratic process and run away from facing charges of corruption. The discussion on the bill went on late in the evening where the Congress staged a walkout before the speaker put it up for voice vote. The bill was passed by majority voice vote in absence of Congress members in the state assembly.