Gandhinagar, Jun 23 (IANS): Retired Gujarat High Court Justice Rajesh Shukla was sworn in on Tuesday as the fifth Lokayukta of the state.

The post of Lokayukta had been vacant since two years since the former, Justice DP Buch completed his tenure of five years in December 2018.

Justice Shukla, who was nominated for the post by the state government on Monday, was administered his oath of office by Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat on Tuesday morning at the latter's residence, Raj Bhavan here.

Born in 1956, Shukla started his career as an advocate after completing his LLB. He served as Gujarat government's solicitor for two years from 1982 to 1984.

He fought for the state government's home department, general administration, Narmada, R&B departments.

He became the judge of City Civil and sessions court in 1994. In November 2007, Shukla became the additional judge in Gujarat High Court and served as Justice from 2009 before retiring in December 2012.

The first Lokayukta of Gujarat was DH Shukla, who served from July 26, 1988 to July 25, 1993.

The second Lokayukta was IC Bhatt who served from November 10, 1993 to November 9, 1998, followed by SM Soni from November 25, 1998 to November 24, 2003.

The post had remained vacant from November 2003 till December 2013.