Aam Aadmi Party today said Justice (retd) R A Mehta's decision to refuse the post of Gujarat Lokayukta was disappointing, especially because it came a year after the Supreme Court had upheld the appointment.
"We are disappointed with Justice (retd) R A Mehta. He should not have resigned now. If he wanted to resign, he should have resigned when the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the Gujarat High Court regarding his appointment," AAP national executive member Prashant Bhushan said here.
"It's close to a year since the apex court had paved way for his appointment and despite the fact that the state government filed a curative petition against the SC ruling, if Justice Mehta didn't want to hold the post, he should have resigned immediately after the apex court's first verdict," he said.
Mehta, a former judge of the Gujarat High Court, this week declined the office of Lokayukta citing Narendra Modi government's long and expensive legal battle against his appointment as one of the reasons.
"Lokayuktas should never expect cooperation from the state government because they are probing corruption cases against the state. If he had feared non-cooperation from the state government (as Mehta stated in his letter to the Governor), he should have resigned immediately after the SC order," Bhushan, who was here to attend a party event, said.
Taking potshots at Modi, Bhushan said his government curtailed the powers of Lokayukta by introducing Gujarat Lokayukta Aayog Act 2013 (which has yet to receive Governor's assent).
