Uttarakhand HC verdict quashing president's rule stayed by SC till Apr 27

New Delhi, Apr 22: The Supreme Court today stayed the order of the Uttarkhand High Court which had quashed the imposition of President's rule in the state.

The Bench headed by Justice Dipak Mishra ordered that the High Court provide judgment copies to all parties by April 26. [U'khand: Modi could have shown he is better than Nehru]

Further it observed that the order of the High Court shall be kept in abeyance until April 27 and the SC would take up the matter on the same day.

The Attorney General of India assured the Supreme Court that president's rule will not be revoked or the BJP would not try and form the government until April 27 at Uttarakhand.

The Supreme Court ordered that let the status that was present in the state until the HC delivered the verdict remain till the next date of hearing.

The Uttarakhand High Court has yesterday quashed the imposition of President's rule in the state.

The grounds by the government

The government represented by the attorney general in its interim prayer sought a stay on the verdict of the High Court.

In its appeal against the HC verdict it contended that the impugned judgment passed by the High Court is contrary to the principles of law laid down by SC in relation to exercise of Article 356 of the Constitution of India. The impugned judgment deserves to be set aside.

High Court failed to appreciate that in view of the settled principles of law laid down by SC, the scope of judicial review of Presidential Proclamation issued under

Article 356 is narrow and limited. The Court can only examine the relevancy of the material placed before the Hon'ble President of India, the adequacy, sufficiency, truth or correctness of the material cannot be looked into by the Hon'ble Court.

Since the Hon'ble High Court failed to appreciate that the Hon'ble Court cannot sit as an appellate forum over the Proclamation which is issued by the Hon'ble President of India on his subjective satisfaction based on the material placed before him - including the report of the Hon'ble Governor and also otherwise.

Arguments

The matter was argued today for over an hour. Harish Rawat represented by Abishek Manu Singvi contended that no stay could be granted as there was no order copy of the HC available as yet. He informed the court that the verdict was dictated in open court yesterday.

The Attorney General said that Harish Rawat has already started taking decisions. He even called a cabinet meeting yesterday. How can he do that, the AG questioned. The judgment copy is not with us says AG. Without a judgment being signed how can it be considered a judgment.

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