New Delhi: Congress leader Harish Rawat is all set to be reinstated as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, over six weeks after he was ousted by the Centre, with the Supreme Court today putting its stamp of approval on the floor test in the Assembly yesterday.
"Rawat gets 33 votes out of 61 in the floor test. No irregularities were found in the voting. 9 MLAs could not vote due to their disqualification," the SC bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh observed.
The pronouncement was made after perusing the records filed by Principal Secretary (Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs) as directed by the court. It also directed revocation of the President's Rule forthwith so that 68-year-old Rawat can assume office as Chief Minister.
"We have opened the result of the vote presented to us in a sealed cover by Jaidev Singh, Principal Secretary (Legislature and Parliamentary Affairs) and we find that 33 votes out of 61 were cast in favour of Rawat," the bench said. "We also clarify that nine members of the Legislative Assembly did not vote as they stand disqualified," it said.
At the outset, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi conceded that there is no doubt that Harish Rawat has proved his majority. "It is clear that respondent number 1 (Harish Rawat) has proved the majority on the floor of the house. I have received instructions from the Centre on the issue. The instructions are that the Centre will revoke the President's rule," the AG told the bench.
"It's a fair decision," senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Harish Rawat, told the court.
The bench asked the Centre to file before it day after tomorrow its order revoking the President's rule in Uttarakhand. It, however, held that the justifiability of the proclamation of President's Rule made on March 28, which has been assailed by the High Court, will remain alive as it is under challenge before the apex court.
It also noted that the nine disqualified MLAs have challenged the HC order and the matter is of debate. "We do not say anything on that," the bench said.
Democracy won in Uttarakhand, its a lesson for PM Modi: Rahul
Meanwhile, celebrations broke out in Dehradun the moment the news trickled in from the court that Rawat has won the trial of strength in the Assembly yesterday which was carried out on the instructions of the Supreme Court.
An ecstatic Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said that democracy has won and hoped that the Prime Minister will ‘learn the lesson’. “They (BJP) did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand. Hope the PM learns the lesson that people of India and institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate murder of democracy," Rahul said on Twitter.
The bench also recorded the statement of Jaidev Singh that there was no irregularity in the voting. “We accept the same. We hasten to add the same is accepted by the Attorney General," the bench said.
At this juncture, the AG submitted that the order of April 22, 2016 putting in operation the President's Rule, after the High Court had quashed it, has to be modified so that Union of India can take steps for revocation of the President's rule.
"Keeping in view the prayer of the AG, we vary the order by granting liberty to Union of India to revoke proclamation of President's Rule in course of the day. After it is revoked, the order of revocation of proclamation of President's Rule will be produced so that an appropriate order can be passed," the bench said.
"Needless to say, after the revocation of the President's Rule, Rawat can assume the office of Chief Minister of Uttarakhand," the bench said.
The bench said there are two other aspects which needed clarification. "First, justifiability of proclamation of President's Rule made on March 27 which has been annulled by the HC, will remain alive for the high court has ascribed many a reason to arrive at the conclusion that the said proclamation was not tenable in law," it said.
The bench said it has to be scrutinised in judicial review whether the opinion arrived at for proclamation of President's Rule was justified or not.
The second aspect is that of 9 MLAs who were disqualified by the Speaker and their disqualification was upheld by the HC and has been assailed in the Special Leave Petition and ‘this court refused to grant interim order of stay on the relevant SLP by May 9 order and matter has been adjourned for July 12’.
"What will be the effect of the disqualification is the matter of debate. We do not say anything on that," the bench said and posted the matter for Friday.
On Friday, it will peruse the order of revocation of proclamation of President's Rule in Uttarakhand while also fixing the next date for hearing the appeal filed by Centre against the HC order quashing imposition of President's rule under Article 356 of the Constitution.
