Ensure that RA Mehta takes over as Guj Lokayukta soon: Cong to governor

Ahmedabad: Congress MLAs today handed over a memorandum to Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal urging her to issue a gazette notification which would enable Justice (retd) RA Mehta to immediately take charge as the state Lokayukta. Supreme Court had last week dismissed Gujarat government’s curative petition seeking re-examination of its verdict upholding Mehta’s appointment to the office. The delegation of Congress MLAs which met the governor was led by the Assembly’s Leader of Opposition, Shankarsinh Vaghela, and the party’s state president, Arjun Modhwadia. “We have urged her to issue a notification for appointment of Mehta so that he can immediately assume charge,” Vaghela said. [caption id=“attachment_980435” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] RA Mehta in this file photo. PTI[/caption] “Chief Minister (Narendra Modi) has been blocking the appointment of Lokayukta for the last 10 years,” Vaghela alleged. “The Gujarat government had not appointed a Lokayukta and, as a result, the governor had to use her constitutional powers to appoint one,” Vaghela stated. “Even in the Comptroller and Auditor General report, there have been allegations of corruption against the Chief Minister and (his Cabinet colleagues),” he further said. Documents and evidence have been handed over to the President of India regarding 17 corruption cases over irregularities of Rs 1 lakh crore involving Gujarat government ministers, he added. The Congress legislators also urged the governor to secure the sacking from the House of state water resources minister Babu Bokhiria who was convicted in an illegal limestone mining case in June. However, a sessions court in Porbandar last week stayed his conviction. They argued that since Bokhiria was sentenced to three years in prison in the Rs 54 crore illegal limestone mining case, he should be removed from the Cabinet. “Though a sessions court has recently stayed his conviction, his innocence has not been proved and hence he should be removed from the Cabinet as a minister and MLA,” Vaghela added. Meanwhile, after a month of skipping office, Bokhiria today returned to work. PTI