The state government said that the Governor has to act on the advice of the cabinet and its consent is must for appointment of Lokayukta.
"The Governor has not got exclusive right to appoint the Lokayukta as she claims. The Governor must get cabinet's consent for the appointment," senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for the state, contended before a bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan.
He submitted that the appointment was done by Beniwal without following due procedure in an unconstitutional manner and it is a violation of constitutional scheme.
"The Governor, while exercising function under section 3 of the Gujarat Lokayukta Act, 1986, is to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers," he said.
"In the present case, there has never been any advice by the council of ministers for the appointment in question and that, therefore, on this ground alone, the action under challenge deserves to be held constitutionally bad," the petition said.
The bench was hearing petitions filed by the state government and an Ahmedabad-based NGO National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) through its President V K Saxena challenging the Gujarat High Court verdict upholding the appointment of Mehta as the Lokayukta by the Governor.
It also objected to the use of "very harsh expressions and language" against Chief Minister Narendra Modi by the high court and sought expunction of those remarks. MORE