The Supreme court Friday refused to accept the Gujarat government’s appointee to head the monitoring authority which would have overseen a probe into 22 alleged staged shootouts that took place in the state between 2002 and 2006.
The Gujarat government Thursday appointed Justice (retd.) K.R. Vyas to head the monitoring authority after Justice M.B. Shah (former judge of the apex court) declined the state government’s offer of the post.
The apex court bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam questioned the Gujarat government on making appointment without informing the court.
It said that its reservation on the appointment of Justice Vyas as the head of the monitoring authority was in no way an aspersion on his credentials.
The court then asked both the Gujarat government and petitioner B.G. Verghese along with lyricist writer Javed Akthar to suggest the name to head the authority.
As counsel Prashant Bhushan appearing for Javed Akthar suggested the name of former apex court judge, Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy, Gujarat government senior counsel Ranjit Kumar said he needed to take instructions from the state government.
Finding no consensus on the choice of the judge between the state government and the petitioners, the court adjourned the hearing till Monday.
