Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat received a major relief on Tuesday as the High Court of Uttarakhand (HCU) postponed hearing on the much-talked about office of profit issue till June 11.
It may be recalled that emboldened with clear cut guidelines of the Article 191 of the Constitution, according to which if an MlA holds office of profit, his or her membership of the legislative Assembly will stand cancelled, the State BJP moved the HCU with the office of profit issue, challenging the occupation of three corporations by the Agriculture Minister.
Interestingly, though Rawat resigned from the corporations following strong opposition on the issue, it is not enough for the principal Opposition party in the State, BJP.
Its main contention is that the way the State Government brought an ordinance on this issue to save its Minister only proves that Rawat was holding offices of profit, as the State BJP leaders have maintained.
Now, we are waiting for the verdict of the HCU on this issue and the decision of the court on this issue will prove to be a landmark decision, they added.
However, when asked about change of date on hearing in this case, Opposition leader in the State legislative Assembly Ajay Bhatt, while talking to The Pioneer, said that the change of date on hearing is under a routine process of the court.
And this change of date of hearing will not make any difference as far as the outcome of the office of profit case is concerned, he added.
And we have strong reasons to believe that the verdict of the HCU in this case will be a landmark judgment, Bhatt said earlier.
The BJP leaders here are of the view that how can an accused be pardoned after he or she commits a crimeIJ This is a clear violation of the Constitution the way the State Government brought an ordinance to save its Minister.
The interesting fact is that both the ruling and Opposition BJP were eagerly waiting for the court’s verdict on this case. But following change of date of hearing on this issue now the political parties will have to wait till June 11.