Debate rages on options before government on lokayukta issue
We are examining the governor’s letter and considering various options. We have to take a decision on whether the governor’s letter be treated as his decision or just his communication to the CM. The governor has not made any noting on the official file
A SENIOR OFFICIAL
LUCKNOW: Governor Ram Naik’s move not to give his assent to the name of justice (retired) Ravindra Singh for appointment as lokayukta and communicate the same to the chief minister through a 17-page letter has left the senior officers of the state government in a fix.
Will the state government send another name for appointment as lokayukta after fresh consultations, make a fresh plea to the governor to reconsider his decision or confront him?
These are some of the questions doing the rounds in official circles as a debate goes on about the options before the state government on the issue.
“We are examining the governor’s letter and considering various options. We have to take a decision on whether the governor’s letter should be treated as his decision or just his communication to the chief minister. The governor has not made any noting on the official file,” said a senior officer.
The state government had been left with limited options, said CB Pandey, a legal expert and former advisor to the governor.
“The state government may either decide to send a new name for the governor’s approval or may decide to notify justice (retired) Ravindra Singh’s appointment as the lokayukta without the governor’s nod. In Gujarat, the then governor notified the appointment on her own. It may be the case of the chief minister deciding to notify a name on his own.”
The state government has also given indications that it may consider the option of amending the Uttar Pradesh Lok Ayukta and Up-Lok Ayukta Act to negate the role of the chief justice of the Allahabad high court on whose opinion the governor appears to have relied more while refusing to give his assent to justice Ravindra Singh’s name. For the amendment too, the government will have to seek the governor’s nod.
While observing that the state government did not carry out the process of consultation in accordance with the legal provisions, the governor in his letter said, “Even assuming that the consultation process with the chief justice by the chief minister was complete as claimed by the chief minister, the huge taints relating to justice Ravindra Singh as stated by chief justice of the Allahabad high court in the aforesaid letters reflecting negativity on his impartiality, neutrality, detachment from the ruling political outfit of the state and his connections with the people in power in the state and his two sons and brother being on the roll of the state government as the counsels of the high court and the Supreme Court and also engaged by corporations etc. of the state render him unsuitable for the impartial office of the lokayukta who has not only to probe the corruptions committed by the bureaucracy but also by the ministers and others. On the basis of the facts mentioned by the chief justice in the aforementioned letters seriously reflecting negativity on the profile/impartiality etc. of justice Ravindra Singh for an impartial office like lokayukta, the chief justice appears to have rightly not agreed to justice Ravindra Singh’s name for the said office.”
The governor f urther observed, “I have no valid reasons as to why the chief justices’ said views expressed against justice Ravindra Singh be not believed. I, therefore decline to accept the said recommendations dated August 22, 2015 made by the chief minister or the State Council of Ministers in favour of justice Ravindra Singh for his appointment as the new lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh.”