HC issues fresh notice to Lokayukta

The court admitted Upadhyaya’s amendment application in which he has sought directions from the HC to declare the UP Lokayukta (Amendment) Act ultra vires. This Act replaced an ordinance (Ordinance No. 1 of 2012) through which the term of Justice Mehrotra was increased from six years to eight years with retrospective effect from March 15.

The petitioner had earlier prayed to the court for declaring the ordinance ultra vires,but filed the amendment application after the Ordinance was replaced with an Act.

However,the court made it clear that it was not going into the merits of the questions raised in the petitions and was only passing order on whether Upadhyaya’s petition,and the subsequent amendment application,was maintainable or not.

Passing the order,the Division Bench of Justices Sunil Anbwani and Aditya Nath Mittal,said that,apart from the normal mode,Mehrotra will also be served notice by hand and his office will have to give an acknowledgement receipt.

Rejecting the contention of the government,which through an affidavit filed by its Vigilance Department in July had questioned the maintainability of the petition,the court said: “Where the validity of an appointment to a public office is under challenge,a writ petition in the nature of quo-warranto (which challenges the authority of a person to continue in a public office) is maintainable at the instance of any person,whether any fundamental or other legal right of such person has been infringed or not.”

Earlier,the government had challenged the maintainability of the petition primarily on the ground that the intentions of the petitioner were not bonafide. The government had argued that Upadhyaya was brother of former BSP minister Ramveer Upadhyaya against whom the Lokayukta had prepared a scathing report,indicting him on corruption charges.

The court noted that Advocate General S P Gupta,during his arguments on the matter on August 22,did not raise the issue of maintainability of the petition.