New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh government has defended in the Supreme Court the appointment of the Lokayukta and accused the Leader of the Opposition of making “false and baseless” allegations about not being consulted in the matter for political mileage.
It asserted the LoP was duly consulted but he chose not to give any opinion on the name recommended by the chief justice of the state high court for appointment as the anti-corruption ombudsman.
The submissions were made in an affidavit filed by the state government in response to a plea by Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Umang Singhar of the Congress challenging the appointment of Justice (retired) Satyendra Kumar Singh as Lokayukta on the ground that he was not consulted.
The state government told the apex court that Singhar’s plea was not maintainable as the appointment of the Lokayukta was decided in accordance with the provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Lokayukt Evam Up-Lokayukt Adhiniyam, 1981 as well as the law settled by the SC in various judicial pronouncements.
It said effective consultation was done with the LoP as per the law as well as the in-house procedure prescribed for the purpose.
“However, he neither gave any opinion nor expressed his any opposition to the said recommendation of the Chief Justice and rather chose to highlight the matter in media making false and baseless allegations just to gain political mileage. Thus, there is no violation of fundamental rights of the petitioner and as such, the present petition is liable to be dismissed,” the affidavit stated.
It asserted the petitioner is not only guilty of concealment of material facts from this court but has also tried to impress upon it that there was no consultation at all with him prior to appointment of the Lokayukta.
The affidavit said pursuant to the recommendation of the chief justice of the high court, the entire file pertaining to the appointment of Lokayukta was sent to the LoP and the relevant rules and procedures were explained to him in detail by the officials concerned.
“Not only that even the Chief Minister has detailed telephonic discussion with him in respect to the recommendation made by the Chief Justice for the post of Lokayukta. This entire exercise clearly shows that there was effective consultation with the LOP/Petitioner before the appointment of Lokayuta,” it said while seeking dismissal of the plea filed by Singhar.
Referring to the Madhya Pradesh Lokayukt Evam Up-Lokayukt Adhiniyam, 1981, Singhar said the appointment of the Lokayukta is facilitated with the consent of the leader of the opposition and the chief justice of the high court.
“Therefore, according to section 3 of the Act, proper consultation was required to be done between the state government, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh and the Leader of the Opposition of the Legislative Assembly of the State before making the appointment.
“It is submitted that while appointing the Respondent No. 2 to the post of Lokayukta, the Respondent No. 1 (MP govt) has not consulted the petitioner and therefore, the appointment of the Respondent no.2 (Singh) is illegal and void and not done according to the statutory process prescribed,” the plea, filed through advocate Sumeer Sodhi, said.
Singhar claimed that apart from non-consultation, the appointment suffers another infirmity as only one name was forwarded and approved contrary to the wide meaning attributed to the word “consultation’ in respect of judicial/quasi-judicial appointments.
The entire process of appointment reeks of “arbitrariness, foul play and ex- facie illegalities” and is liable to be set aside, he said in the petition. PTI PKS SJK PKS SK SK
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