The rebels backed the Supreme Court’s decision to block a high court judgment that revoked President’s Rule in Uttarakhand.
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Affirming that truth triumphs in the end, former chief minister Harish Rawat on Thursday lauded the judiciary after Uttarakhand High Court quashed the President’s Rule in the state.”In the end, truth wins, we respect the verdict of the High Court”, said Rawat.
“We will mention the matter before the Chief Justice of India on Friday morning and ask for an urgent hearing”, said Rohatgi.
The high court also upheld the disqualification of nine dissident Congress legislators, saying they have to pay the price for the “constitutional sin” of defection. The HC asked the Centre if it was going to look with a “magnifying glass” for an “opportunity” to impose President’s rule in state assemblies, as reported by The Indian Express. “It is absolutely crucial”, the bench said.
Considering that as many as nine of its legislative assembly members had joined the Opposition BJP to oppose the Budget, the Congress government led by Harish Rawat could not have passed the Budget with a voice vote.
“(The) Court has added a rider that the Govt will not revoke President’s rule before April 27”, he added.
During the last three days of hearing, the court has made several strong observations against the Centre on the issue of imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand.
Once the matter is filed before the registry, the Registrar General of the Supreme Court would seek instructions from the Chief Justice on when the matter should be listed.
“Otherwise you can do this in every state”.
Source said that Jaitley, who returned from the United States earlier in the day, and others felt that there were enough grounds to challenge the order which is being seen as a big blow to the Modi government.
Until recently, Harish Rawat and Congress state president Kishor Upadhyay said they were in touch with five or six rebels but now say talks failed.
It also said that there was “absolute absence of material that would create an apprehension in the mind of the Governor” that President’s rule needs to be imposed.
“We are pained that the Central government can behave like this”.
The centre had argued that since President Pranab Muhkerjee signed off on the decision, the move could not be examined by courts.
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Chief Justice T.S. Thakur will then decide which bench would hear the plea, the court said.
