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In August this year Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal had returned the new Lokayukta Bill, which proposes to repeal the existing one, terming some of its provisions as 'mockery of judicial process' and 'detrimental to the interest of the public welfare'.
The Gujarat Lokayukta Commission Bill, 2013, which proposes sweeping powers to the Chief Minister and curtail powers of the Governor and the chief justice of Gujarat High Court in appointment of Lokayukta, was passed in April this year with majority voice vote in Gujarat assembly while the opposition Congress staged a walkout in protest.
On Monday, the new Lokayukta Bill was once again introduced in the state assembly by finance minister Nitin Patel, with minor changes in definition of Governor, and qualification of Lokayukta. Rest remained the same despite several objections raised by the Governor.
While tabling the bill, Patel said that some external forces were behind the Governor returning the bill despite of the state assembly passing it by majority vote. "There are some forces acting behind the scenes and creating hurdle in passing of the new legislation. It is an attempt to malign politicians of the state by the anti-Gujarat forces," Patel said in the House.
"It is unfortunate that the bill which seeks to provide justice to people against corruption and injustice, has been sent back," he added.
While speaking on objections raised by the governor on the selection committee to appoint the Lokayukta, Patel drew a comparison with the Centre's Lokpal Bill and said that the composition of committee was similar to that of the Lokpal Bill.
Since the opposition Congress had been suspended yesterday, the bill was passed by majority voice vote in their absence.
The Bill, proposes formation of a selection committee headed by the Chief Minister for the appointment of lokayukta, and the Governor can only appoint a person recommended by the selection committee as Lokayukta, which is not the case in the existing Act. It also does not include chief justice of the Gujarat High Court in the selection committee. Instead, it includes a judge of the High Court who will be nominated by the HC chief justice.
The new bill widen the scope of Lokayukta by including officials of local bodies, besides chief minister and council of minister. It proposes that if a complaint was filed against a minister, the Lokayukta would submit its report with recommendations to the chief minister, who will take action after consulting the council of ministers.
However, the bill has not stated what would be the case if the complaint before Lokayukta was made against the chief minister. Under the bill state government will have power to exclude from purview of Lokayukta, persons or officials belonging to public function specified in the definition of the proposed legislature.
