Arunachal Pradesh Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa’s act of seizing all official files from the offices and residences of former Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, his Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries drew criticism from the Supreme Court which on Monday directed the Centre to “play fair” and provide a copy of all seized communication, files and hard disks to the ousted Ministers by Friday.
The order came on a day when the court recalled the notice issued to JP Rajkhowa after it was convinced by Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi that the Governor is immune from judicial proceedings. The Bench of Justices JS Khehar, Dipak Misra, Madan B lokur, PC Ghose and NV Ramana recalled the notice issued to the Governor on January 27 and gave him the liberty to join the proceedings at any stage.
Interestingly, the Governor’s order to seize official files, computers, and personal documents of Tuki and his ministerial colleagues came just a few hours after President Rule was imposed in the State on January 26. The Congress, represented by senior advocates Fali Nariman and Kapil Sibal, demanded “status quo” claiming that such an order was unprecedented and unthinkable in a democracy.
“He (Governor) is clearing decks for another election which he is not authorised to do. We are being treated like criminals when the House is in suspended animation,” Nariman said.
Sibal alleged that in the absence of any files or official communication, it was becoming hard for his clients to fight the legal battle arising in the present proceedings.
He pointed out that over 100 letters that were exchanged between the Chief Minister and the Governor, will expose the lie of the Governor that his letters were not responded to.
However, the Attorney-General defended the Governor’s action claiming that such an order was only consequential after President Rule was in place.
He urged the court to take up the petition on validity of the Presidential Proclamation without going into the Governor’s consequential orders.
The Bench told the Centre that the issue on merits will arise at a later stage. For the present, it wanted to ensure that the order of the Governor should not hamper the petitioners from filing their response and preparing a case to challenge the Presidential Proclamation. “They want access to the records whether by way of getting copies or inspection…You can’t say I will beat you with a sword and you can’t have anything to defend yourself.”
The court proceeded to order the Centre to make available a copy of all official files, hard disks seized from laptops or computers, and personal letters, books, files, etc to be handed to the Congress legislators by Friday.
Senior advocate Rajiv Dhavan who appeared for another Congress legislator argued that under President’s Rule such an order by a Governor is unheard of. During suspended animation, Ministers and Chief Minister continue to be legislators.
They may come back if the Proclamation under Article 356 is withdrawn after two months or set aside by the court which is examining its validity.
The Bench told the A-G, “By providing them documents, you are allowing them to respond. This is the basic fairness level one will expect. Either you volunteer or we will pass orders.” Rohatgi volunteered to supply the documents by Friday. Meanwhile, the court decided to continue hearing on Tuesday on the Congress’ appeals challenging the Governor’s decision to pre-pone the Assembly session and the decision by rebel Congress MlAs to join hands with Opposition MlAs and convene a session outside the Assembly.