Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik referred to the President “The Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta, UP-lokayukta (Amendment) Bill 2015” which seeks to end the role of the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court in selection of the Lokayukta.
Mr Naik, after studying the Bill in detail, found that the role of the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court in selection of the Lokayukta comes to an end through this Bill, whereas the Chief Justice of India has a great role in the selection of Lokpal in the Central Act.
This bill appears to be contrary to the central Act and so the Governor has referred it to the President.
In the backdrop of the tussle with the Raj Bhavan over appointment of a new Lokayukta, the bill was passed by the state legislature in August last after the Governor turned down the name of Justice (retd) Ravindra Singh, recommended by the state government, for the post.
According to the Bill, the new committee to recommend the Lokayukta’s name was to be headed by the chief minister and have as its members the Assembly Speaker, Leader of the Opposition and a retired judge, nominated by the committee chairperson in consultation with the Speaker.
Earlier, the selection committee included the Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice.
The Governor referred two controversial Bills to the President, including one to curtail powers of mayors. The two Bills are Uttar Pradesh Nagar Nigam (Amendment) Bill, 2015, and UP Nagarpalika Vidhi (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
After going through both the bills, the Governor found that some provisions in the two proposed legislations were contrary to the concept of local self-administration and democracy.