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AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Thursday rejected the PIL challenging the legality and validity of Justice M B Shah commission, which has been set up by the state government to look into 17 graft allegations. The petitioner, identified as Gunvantrai Joshi, also requested HC to transfer all 17 cases for probe to the Lokayukta. He sought transfer of probe on the ground that government felt that retired Justice R A Mehta was not a favourable candidate for the post of Lokayukta. Hence, anticipating that an inquiry into graft charges may put his government in a fix, chief minister Narendra Modi set up the M B Shah commission. The commission, set up in August last year, has been asked to inquire into graft allegations, mainly against the government for benefiting its favourite industrial houses by allotting them land at cheap rates. The petitioner also contended that the reports and recommendations given by the inquiry commission are not binding on the government, and this makes entire fact-finding exercise futile. On the other hand, the process initiated under the Lokayukta laws for the state has got more provisions to bring about changes. Advocate General Kamal Trivedi informed the court that the constitution of the probe panel was legally done by the state government as per section 3 of Commission of Inquiry. A bench of acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala concluded that no illegality was committed by the government in setting up the commission. The division bench also observed that no malafide can be seen in the government's decision to ask the retired Supreme Court judge to probe the allegations as per the law. |
| SOURCE: The Times of India |
