Third judge of Guj HC begins hearing on Lokayukta appointment

A third judge of the Gujarat high court on Wednesday began hearing the dispute over appointment of Lokayukta of the state, following the split verdict where two judges had differed on the matter.

The issue of formulating the points of differences was raised by senior counsel Girish Patel, appearing on behalf of one of the respondents Bhikabhai Jethwa, before Justice V M Sahai, who was assigned the task of hearing the matter by the chief justice.

Patel contended that the judges who had differed on the issue need to formulate the points on which they had based their opinions and place them before the third judge who would then conduct a hearing on the specifics instead of all the issues raised.

Advocate General Kamal Trivedi representing the Gujarat government objected to Patel's contention saying there was no hard and fast rule on who will formulate the points on which the judges disagreed.

They can be formulated either by the differing judges or by the third judge, Trivedi said. Both Patel and Trivedi cited previous judgements to support their arguments.

After hearing them both, Justice Sahai reserved the order on whether to refer the matter back to the division bench to formulate the points of differences or frame the points himself, till Thursday.

Today's hearing was restricted to the discussion on who will formulate the points of differences appeared in the split verdict delivered by Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice Sonia Gokani.

Justice Kureshi, on October 11, had upheld Governor Kamla's decision of appointing justice (retired) R A Mehta as Lokayukta while his colleague Justice Gokani had ordered quashing of the warrant of appointment issued by the governor terming it "unconstitutional".

On August 25, Gujarat Governor Dr Kamla appointed Justice (retired) R A Mehta as the state Lokayukta, allegedly bypassing the Narendra Modi government. The post of Lokayukta was lying vacant since 2003.

Aggrieved over the appointment, the state government challenged it in the high court on the same day contending that governor's decision was "unconstitutional and unilateral".

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party even held demonstration across the state opposing the appointment.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi had even shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking recall of Governor Dr Kamla, alleging that she had failed in performing her constitutional duty.