Again governor says ‘no’, govt in a huddle to find way out

LUCKNOW: The ongoing row between governor Ram Naik and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav over the appointment of Justice (retd) Ravindra Singh as new lokayukta escalated on Tuesday when the governor again refused to give his assent to the appointment, stating that he was not bound to accept the state cabinet’s recommendations.

This was the fourth time the governor rejected the government’s recommendation for the appointment and returned the file to the chief minister.

The governor’s refusal has sent the government into a tizzy and they are now holding discussions to find a way out of the impasse.

While returning the file on Tuesday, the governor sent a 17-page letter to the chief minister, with copies to chief justice (CJ) of Allahabad high court DY Chandrachud and leader of opposition Swami Prasad Maurya, saying he expected them to send another suitable name (in place of Justice Singh) after holding consultation at the earliest in view of the order of the supreme court over the lokayukta’s appointment.

Ironically, the governor has not made any noting on the file and has, instead, sent a long letter citing reasons for his decision.

The reasons given by the governor are that the state government has not completed the necessary legal procedure of holding consultations for the selection of lokayukta and that the three members of the selection committee had neither met nor agreed on one name as pointed out by Maurya.

Moreover, the three members were not aware of the correspondence made or consultations held among them, the governor said.

He also said the CJ had expressed reservations against the name of Justice Singh, saying the work of l okayukta could be affected due to his proximity to the ruling party.

Hence, proposing justice Singh’s name would not be appropriate, was the observation the CJ had made, said the governor.

He further said that he was not bound by the advice of the state cabinet on the issue as there was a set procedure for appointment of lokayukta and the state cabinet had no role to play in the process.

It may be mentioned that while sending the file back to Raj Bhawan again on August 22, the state government had communicated to the governor that initiating the process of consultation afresh for appointment of lokayukta was not feasible following the state cabinet’s decision on the issue.