The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the plea filed by Andhra Pradesh government against the Andhra Pradesh High Court order in which the state government was called to assist to find out whether there was a constitutional breakdown in the state. It will be heard in two weeks.
The bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian heard the petition, they had already stayed the HC order in the previous hearing. The state government had come to the Apex Court in appeal against the HC order. It had informed the Court that only the President can declare President’s rule under Article 356 of the Constitution, which deals with the provisions in case of failure of constitutional machinery in a state.
The Andhra Pradesh government argued that this is a power exclusively vested in the executive and cannot be exercised by the judiciary. The state had submitted that under the constitutional framework, it is not for the Courts to decide as to whether there is a constitutional breakdown in a state or not.
In the previous hearing, the bench had called the HC order while staying it.