gandhinagar gujarat governor dr kamla took the narendra modi government by surprise on friday by appointing a close anna hazare aide and former justice of the gujarat high court r a mehta as the new lokayukta justice mehta had hosted hazare at his residence during his last visit to ahmedabad in the month of may and he has been closely associated with civil society in gujarat the governors order based on the recommendation of the chief justice of gujarat hc came just after midnight and within a couple of hours of her talks with three senior state ministers who came to raj bhavan with a selection criteria that she outrightly ridiculed and rejected while the modi government knew she would act soon in the matter few believed she would bypass the government and appoint a lokayukta herself the governor took the action under section 3 of the gujarat lokayukta act 1986 which gives her the right to appoint lokayukta without consulting the government she based her decision on legal opinion given by the attorney general of india while avoiding talking to the advocate general of gujarat she was advised that not appointing a lokayukta for more than seven years was irrational and that it was a matter of grave concern that there was no authority to probe affairs of the government on thursday night modi had sent a proposal to her that a committee consisting of three ministers the leader of opposition and chief justice should suggest a panel of three judges and one of them be selected on the basis of a majority vote the governor found this ridiculous and told this to the three ministers vajubhai vala jay narayan vyas and saurabh patel who met her with this suggestion early on friday morning the governor was expected to meet congress mlas led by the leader of opposition shaktisinh gohil on the same issue but when gohil and co arrived at the raj bhavan the governor informed them that the appointment had already been done and that they should now cooperate with the new lokayukta propoor judge with a heart justice r a mehta 74 came into limelight as a young advocate when he assisted justice b k mehta commission which probed the machhu dam disaster in morbi in 1976 he was appointed judge of gujarat high court in 1984 after about 10 years of legal practice he remained a judge of gujarat hc for 14 years during which he gave some very significant judgments these included abolition of carrying of night soil on head by scavengers and regularisation of street hawkers in ahmedabad in the golana massacre case the worst incident of caste violence in gujarat he gave guidelines for the government and police to follow in case of caste and communal tensions the then cj of the supreme court a m ahmedi had offered him the position of cj of any hc in india he politely declined a promotion transfer because he wanted