Bhardwaj explains why he recommended president’s rule
May 17th, 2011 - 9:52 pm ICT by IANS
Bangalore, May 17 (IANS) Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj late Tuesday clarified that he recommended president’s rule in the state as there was breakdown of the constitutional mechanism on the day the confidence vote in October last year.
“The intervention under Article 356 (1) of the Constitution of India (recommending president’s rule) is not limited to a situation of government losing its majority in the assembly. The intervention is called for whenever there is breakdown of constitutional mechanism in the state. The breakdown of constitutional mechanism also can occur in several other ways,” the governor said in a communique to the media.
Explaining why he recommended president’s rule despite the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) currently enjoying majority of 121 in the 225-member legislative assembly, including one nominated member, Bhardwaj said the speaker (K.G. Bapaiah) in collusion with the chief minister (B.S. Yeddyurappa) had distorted the character and composition of the assembly for extraneous reasons Oct 10 last year by disqualifying 16 legislators just before the crucial floor test the following day (Oct 11).
“The Supreme Court in S.R. Bommai vs Union of India (1994) 3 SCC held that ‘proper course for testing the strength of the ministry is holding the test on the floor of the house’. That alone is the constitutionally ordained forum of seeking openly and objectively the claims and counter-claims in that behalf,” the governor said, quoting from the May 13 judgment of the Supreme Court.
The 16 lawmakers included 11 from the ruling party and five Independents.
A division bench of the apex court headed by Justice Altamus Kabir and Justice Cyriac Joseph May 13 restored the membership of the 16 lawmakers by setting aside the disqualification order of the Karnataka speaker.
“The actions of distorting the character of the assembly were resorted to by the chief minister and the speaker, as noted by the Supreme Court of India in its judgment, to enable the floor test to succeed. The sanctity of the floor test has been deliberately subverted, thereby resulting in the breakdown of the constitutional mechanism, as the legislative assembly is a creation of the Constitution under Article 168,” the communique pointed out.
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Tags: apex, apex court, article 356, chief minister, collusion, composition, confidence vote, constitution of india, division bench, independents, judgment, kabir, karnataka, lawmakers, legislative assembly, legislators, oct 11, ruling party, scc, supreme court