Rapping it for “introducing chaos”, the Uttarakhand High Court Tuesday questioned the Centre if it was going to look with a “magnifying lens” for an “opportunity” in state assemblies to “impose” President’s rule. Hearing arguments on ousted Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s petition challenging President’s rule in the state and other related petitions, the bench of Chief Justice K M Joseph and Justice V K Bist asked the Union Government why it was “concerned” about the disqualification of nine Congress MLAs. Referring to the NDA government’s argument that the President took the decision to impose Article 356 of the Constitution in his “political wisdom”, a bench of Chief Justice K M Joseph and Justice V K Bist said, “People can go wrong, be it the President or the judges.” The bench said it was “irrelevant” for the Cabinet to assume disqualification as one of the grounds while recommending President’s rule. “… you are taking away the power of an elected government… you are introducing chaos,” the judges said after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi argued that there can be a floor test after President’s rule which is a “temporary freeze” since it gets over in two months.
President can be wrong, his decision subject to judicial review: Uttarakhand HC to Centre
