The Congress Party on Wednesday virtually boycotted the swearing in ceremony of the fourth Lokayukta of Gujarat, for which the main Opposition party had been clamouring for a decade.
Justice D.P Buch, a retired judge of the Gujarat High Court, was administered the oath of Lokayukta by Governor Kamla Beniwal at Raj Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Assembly Speaker Vajubhai Vala.
Justifying his absence from the function, Shankarsinh Vaghela, former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha, said in a statement he received the invitation only on Tuesday and that his visit to New Delhi was pre-planned. No other Congress Legislature Party leader could attend as they were not granted permission, he added, while congratulating the new Lokayukta.
The anti-corruption ombudsman’s office had been lying vacant since the last decade when the last incumbent Justice R. M. Soni’s term expired in December 2003.
The BJP Government had been at loggerheads with the Governor since 2011 over the appointment of a new Lokayukta. The issue became controversial when the Governor appointed retired High Court judge Justice R. A. Mehta as Lokayukta in August 2011, apparently without consulting the Government. This led to a legal battle until the Supreme Court upheld the Governor’s decision.
However, Justice Mehta declined to take charge of his office in August 2013, following which the Governor appointed Justice Buch as the new Lokayukta in November.
The Lokayukta issue had come in handy for the Congress Party to pillory Modi. The BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate had been attacking the Congress-led UPA Government on the corruption issue. The Gujarat Congress, on the other hand, questioned Modi’s claims, saying the Chief Minister had himself failed to appoint a Lokayuka for a decade.