Kochi, March 31 The Kerala High Court on Tuesday upheld the amendments made by the state government to the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act of 1999, stating that the changes to the law do not violate the principle of separation of powers, the principle of judicial independence, or the basic structure of the Constitution.
With these observations, a bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V M dismissed the pleas moved by senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala and N Prakash, a resident of Kochi, challenging the amendments.
The bench said that the amendments, which changed a declaration by the Lok Ayukta to a recommendation and replaced the Governor with the state legislative assembly as the competent authority to accept or reject the suggestion in case of the chief minister, do not dilute the powers of the quasi-judicial body.
The amendments also do not interfere with the administration of justice, it added.
"On the contrary, the impugned amendments seek to bring the statutory framework in consonance with the constitutional scheme, as discussed earlier, under which, ministers hold office during the pleasure of the Governor and cannot be compelled to demit office solely on the basis of a statutory declaration," the court said.
It also said that changing the declaration to recommendation and making the competent authority record reasons for accepting or rejecting the suggestion of the Lok Ayukta, does not amount to conferring appellate powers on the executive or encroachment into the judicial domain.
The bench further noted that any arbitrary, mala fide, or unreasonable decision taken by the competent authority in response to a recommendation of the Lok Ayukta would be amenable to judicial review.
"Therefore, the statutory scheme, as amended, preserves fairness at both stages -- at the level of inquiry and at the level of executive response -- and cannot be characterised as arbitrary or procedurally unjust.
"In view of the foregoing discussion, we hold that the amendment of the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act, 1999 does not violate the doctrine of separation of powers, the principle of judicial independence or the basic structure of the Constitution," it said.
The court also held that the state legislature was competent to make such amendments.
At the same time, the bench made it clear that under the amended Act, if the report of the Lok Ayukta with its recommendations is not rejected within 90 days from the date of its receipt, "it shall be deemed to have been accepted on the expiry of the said period of three months".
The petitioners had claimed that the amendments had diluted the efficacy and enforceability of the report of the Lok Ayukta from a 'declaration' to a 'recommendation'.
Rejecting the contentions of the petitioners, the court said that the amendments were enacted to harmonise the provisions of the Lok Ayukta Act with the constitutional framework, rather than to subvert it.
The amendments seeks to remove any inconsistency and align the statutory mechanism with the constitutional mandates, it said.
The state legislative assembly had passed the amendments in 2022.