While the Congress and the BJP are busy praising themselves in Delhi as the champions of the anti-corruption movement, pure politics by state leaders of both the parties has delayed the appointment of lok ayukta in Gujarat.
While the Congress and the BJP are busy praising themselves in Delhi as the champions of the anti-corruption movement, pure politics by state leaders of both the parties has delayed the appointment of lok ayukta in Gujarat. And this despite there being a law for 26 years, providing for the appointment of lok ayukta.
On April 8, soon after Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi supported Anna Hazare’s fast against corruption during a campaign rally in Assam, the Congress lashed out that the chief minister had not appointed a lok ayukta in the state for the last eight years.
A day later, Jaynarayan Vyas retorted that the leader of opposition (LoP) in the state assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil, was not coming for a consultation meeting to decide on the names for the post. This had delayed the appointment of a lok ayukta, said Vyas, firmly hitting the ball back in Congress’s court.
A week later, Gohil responded. At a press conference peppered with allegations of corruption against the state government, the Congress leader said the chief minister had no role in the ‘consultation’ for the appointment of the lok ayukta.
“The law is very clear. The governor has to appoint the lok ayukta on the basis of consultations with the chief justice of the state’s high court and the leader of opposition in the assembly. There is no provision for any consultation with the chief minister or his cabinet in the appointment. The chief minister only has to issue a notification which he is not doing as he fears his corruption will be exposed,” Gohil alleged.
This was exactly two months ago. Even today - after a national movement by Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare for the Jan Lokpal Bill; the Congress swearing its allegiance to a non-corrupt administration; and a dramatic fast by Baba Ramdev (vociferously supported by the BJP) - the appointment of a Lokayukta in Gujarat is still in the limbo.
Though the name of retired Justice RA Mehta for the post is believed to have been recommended to the government, a notification in this regard is yet to be issued. Meanwhile, the sound bytes by our netas are the same as they were 60 days back.
BJP’s national spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad asserted
during a visit to Ahmedabad on Saturday that the appointment of lok ayukta here was being delayed because the leader of
opposition was not coming for consultation. “Congress is
squarely responsible for there being no lok ayukta here,” Prasad said.
Former state president of the BJP, Purshottam Rupala, added that "Gohilji is a lawyer and he is confusing us in legal technicalities, but the fact of the matter is that no appointment can be made without consultation with the government".
Lawyer Mukul Sinha, who has independently studied the Lokayukta Bill of different states, interprets that the appointment indeed has to be made on the recommendation of the governor, the leader of opposition and the state's chief justice. "But in essence, the governor is to be guided by the state government.
How is it fair in a democracy that the LoP has a say in such a crucial appointment but the leader of the government (CM) does not? The government should be a recommending authority," he said. This conundrum raises a pertinent question: can a lok ayukta or a Jan Lokpal actually bring about a revolution in reducing corruption when the power to implement the law eventually rests with politicians?
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