Gujarat Lokayukta case: HC issues fresh notice to R A Mehta

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court issued a fresh notice to Retd Justice R A Mehta who was appointed as the Lokayukta by the State Governor bypassing the Narendra Modi government, which has challenged the decision.

The fresh notice was issued by division bench of Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice Sonia Gokani after the earlier notice issued on September 7 was not served to him.

The next hearing in the matter has now been scheduled for September 28, when the court will also hear the contempt petition against Modi for leaking his letter written to the Prime Minister to the media.

Gujarat Governor Dr Kamla had last month appointed Mehta as Lokayukta bypassing the state government on the post which was vacant for the last seven years.

The state government has challenged the Governor's decision in the High Court.

In the next hearing, the court will also hear the petition of Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil who wants to join in as party in the contempt petition.

A bunch of petitions are being heard together by the court which include state government's petition challenging the governor's decision of appointing Mehta as Lokayukta without consulting the council of ministers.

One is a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking appointment of Lokayukta in thestate, as the post has been vacant for over seven years.

Justice Kureshi today told one of the petitioners (who was insisting that the notice be issued after hearing him), that the court had not intention of delaying the matter and it was acutely concerned about the issue.

He asked the petitioner's lawyer that it would hear him only after the main matter of the Lokayukta would be decided. We do not want to divert from the issue at the moment, the court said.

Others who have been served the notice include Registrar General of Gujarat High Court and Principal Secretary to the Chief Justice of Gujarat High court.

The HC registrar General and Principal Secretary to Chief Justice also filed their reply with regard to the issue through counsel Shalin Mehta.

On August 26, Gujarat governor Dr Kamla, bypassing the Narendra Modi led government, appointed Retd Justice R A Mehta as the state Lokayukta, a post which was vacant since 2003.

Aggrieved by this the state government challenged it in the High Court on the same day contending that the decision was "unconstitutional and unilateral".