Arun Jaitley disagrees with Supreme Court opinion on Gujarat Lokayukta

NEW DELHI Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley has disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision upholding the appointment of Gujarat Lokayukta and has cautioned that the courts may use this as a precedent in case of Lokpal's selection.

"As a part of India's legislative and political process, I seriously disagree with the observations of the Supreme Court. The Act framed by the legislature does not give any primacy to the opinion of the chief justice," Jaitley has said in an article, released by BJP.

The SC had upheld the appointment of retired justice RA Mehta as the Gujarat Lokayukta though chief minister Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers had opposed it.

"The fact that Chief Justice is an independent constitutional authority does not imply that the chief minister...have no constitutional or statutory role, particularly when the power to be exercised is an executive function and not a judicial one," Jaitley writes.