MLC appointment: UP Guv justifies his objection to five names

Bareilly (UP): Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik on Tuesday sought to justify his decision on holding back five names sent by the state government for appointment as MLCs and said he followed the rule book while deciding on the issue.

The Governor had objected to five of the nine names sent to him, due to complaint against them, and has asked the UP government to conduct an inquiry against them.

The Governor also asked the UP government to "wait" for a decision on Lokayukta issue. Naik said that the Lokayukta Amendment Bill was being "examined".

"The state government had sent me some names for appointment as MLCs. The Raj Bhawan did legitimate work. The files which were as per the Constitution were cleared. Good governance gets strengthened by working as per law and Constitution," Naik said.

He was addressing a national conference on 'sushashan' (good governance).

After keeping a list of nine names, sent by the state government for nomination as MLCs, on hold for over a month Naik last month gave his approval to four names.

He has sought more information about the remaining five and has sent complaints received about them to the Chief Minister and desired that an inquiry be conducted to find out the truth.

The Governor approved the names of SRS Yadav, Lilawati Kushwaha, Ram Vriksh Singh Yadav and Jitendra Yadav for nomination to the Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad).

The five names on which the Governor had objection are of Kamlesh Pathak, Sanjay Seth, Ranvijay Singh, Abdul Sarfaraz Khan and Rajpal Kashyap.

The Governor also desired that the provisions with regard to nomination of persons making exemplary contribution in the field of art, literature, science, social work should be followed in "letter and spirit" of the Constitution.