The Gujarat Government has decided to file a 'curative petition' in the Supreme Court following the dismissal of its review petition before the apex court challenging the appointment of Justice (retd) R A Mehta as the state Lokayukta.
"On Monday we are filing a curative petition, as the legal remedy is still available to us, in the Supreme Court against its order rejecting review petition," state government's spokesperson and Finance Minister Nitin Patel told PTI.
"We received the copy of the judgement today around 5 pm and after consultation with legal experts, we are filing the curative petition."
In the petition, the petitioner has to submit that the grounds mentioned had been taken in the review petition too, and this has to be certified by a senior advocate.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court bench of Justices B S Chauhan and F M Ibrahim Kalifulla dismissed the review plea. Modi government's stand has been that appointment of Lokayukta by Governor Kamla Beniwal was "illegal" as it was done without consulting the state government.
The SC, in its January 2 ruling, had given primacy to the opinion of the Gujarat High Court Chief Justice, disagreeing with the state's contention that Governor could not appoint Lokayukta without state government's advice.
In the subsequent review petition, Gujarat government cited a judgement of the apex court regarding appointment of Karnataka Lokayukta, where SC had said that chief minister will have primacy in selection process if the state law provides for his inclusion in the consultation.
