President’s Rule will continue in Uttarakhand after the Supreme Court decided to continue with the interim order till it convenes to hear the matter again on May 3. The court also ruled that there will be no floor test on April 29.
During the proceedings, the Apex bench framed seven questions and sought the Centre’s response on the same. Justice Dipak Misra asked the Centre who is the authority to satisfy the court that proclamation of Art 356 is justified, to which Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said it was union government.
Rohatgi also said that he has filed the impugned judgment and would like to amend the petition.
The court also asked whether disqualification of MLAs by the Speaker could be a relevant reason to invoke President’s rule under Article 356. It also wished to know whether the Governor could have asked the Chief Minister to prove majority on the floor. The AG replied that he could have asked but he did not.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that failing to pass money bill in the house is no reason that the government is considered a failure. He also argued that there won’t be any governments if corruption was the argument for imposing Article 356.
The court also granted time to petitioner till Friday to file the amended petition, and to respondents to file counter till Monday.