A Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday took strong note of the criticism by Chief Minister Narendra Modi of the appointment by the Governor of the Lokayukta and asked the State government to report back to it how Mr. Modi's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “reached” the media.
“Were the contents of his letter leaked with the consent of the Chief Minister?” the Bench, comprising Justices Akil Kureshi and Sonia Gokani, asked Advocate-General Kamal Trivedi. He was told to inform the court how and who ordered sending to the media copies of Mr. Modi's letter to Dr. Singh. In the letter Mr. Modi had raised objections to the appointment of Justice R.A. Mehta, a retired judge of the High Court, as the Lokayukta by Governor Kamla Beniwal, bypassing the State government.
Petition
The High Court was jointly hearing the petition filed by the State government challenging Mr. Justice Mehta's appointment and the couple of contempt of court petitions filed against Mr. Modi for publicly criticising the appointment when the matter was still under the consideration of the High Court.
The State government also submitted to the Bench a sealed cover containing correspondences among the Chief Justice of the High Court, S. J. Mukhopadhaya, the Chief Minister and the Governor over the appointment of the Lokayukta.
The High Court issued notices to Mr. Justice Mehta, who had been made the first respondent in the State government petition, the Registrar-General of the High Court, who was the second respondent, and the personal secretary to the Chief Justice and fixed the next hearing for September 21.
Correspondence
The Advocate-General in his arguments based on the correspondence between Mr. Modi and others, sought to impress upon the Bench that the Chief Minister was keen to ensure the appointment of the Lokayukta at the earliest and the Governor's action in appointing Mr. Justice Mehta for the post bypassing the State government on grounds of “inordinate delay” was against the spirit of the Constitution.
The Governor appointed the Lokayukta on August 25 bypassing the State government and the next day the government filed the petition challenging the appointment.
On the advice of the High Court, however, the government was obliged to file an amended petition dropping the Governor's name from the list of respondents as under the Constitution the head of the State could not be “dragged to court.”
