State Governor Aziz Qureshi on Tuesday rejected as baseless the statements made by leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha, Ajay Bhatt questioning the impartiality of the Raj Bhawan in the case of State Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat occupying more than one office of profit.
In a statement released by the Raj Bhawan here, the Governor stated that the memorandums related to this case submitted by a BJP delegation on April 2, 2013, by former CM Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on May 31, 2013 and then by BJP State chief Tirath Singh Rawat were sent for further action without delay. In case of the double office of profit held by Rawat, a decision was taken after detailed discussion and consultation with the Raj Bhawan’s legal advisers, the advocate general of Uttarakhand, chief secretary and other officials concerned.
It is pertinent to mention here that the BJP had questioned the constitutionality of Rawat occupying the post of the Uttarakhand Seeds and Terai Development Corporation chairman while being the State Agriculture Minister. The State Government had then issued an ordinance through the Governor dropping three posts held by Rawat from the ambit of the offices of profit with retrospective effect.
It will be recalled that the decision of the Governor in this case had been challenged in the Uttarakhand High Court which was rejected by a Single Bench of the HC. After this, Bhatt had filed an appeal in the Double Bench of the HC which was also rejected. According to the Raj Bhawan, similar ordinances related to office of profit have been issued by the State Government through the Governors of Uttarakhand thrice in the past-once during the tenure of a Congress-led State Government and twice under a BJP government.
Qureshi reminded Bhatt that as the Governor during the last two years, he had ordered swift action on all the issues presented before him. Once when Bhatt had approached the Governor at midnight seeking his intervention regarding the arrest orders for a BJP MlA, Qureshi had immediately directed the then chief minister Vijay Bahuguna to halt the arrest and on Bhatt’s request had also asked the case to be transferred to CBCID. During the recently concluded Panchayat elections, Bhatt had called the governor during his Delhi stay at midnight complaining about alleged misbehaviour with a BJP woman candidate in the Champawat district Panchayat elections. In this case, Qureshi immediately ordered the State chief secretary and DGP to take strict action in this case though the complaint later proved to be baseless.