Keeping all on tenterhooks for two more days, Nainital High Court has adjourned the hearing of the nine Congress rebels’ disqualification case till Monday. Political volatility dragging for days with the equations changing at a baffling pace in the hill State, all eyes are riveted on the ruling of the crucial case upon which hinges the fate of the floor test-if and when it is held to test the majority claim of the Congress and its rival camp.
The adjournment followed the advocates, representing rebel Congress MlAs, having sought time till Monday for placing their arguments.
The advocates also mentioned that they had filed a petition in the Supermen Court over the same issue. However, senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal, representing the Speaker, expressed disagreement over the appeal to have the hearing adjourned.
Sibal’s arguments were heard in the court on Saturday while those of the lawyers representing the rebel MlAs would be heard on Monday.
Sibal argued that the Speaker had not violated natural justice by his action. Affirming stoutly the justifiability of the Speaker’s action, he said that the rebel MlAs on March 18 had twice met the Governor and stated that the Harish Rawat Government had fallen with nine rebel Congress MlAs and 26 BJP MlAs in unison opposing the Appropriation Bill.
Sibal said that the rebel Congress MlAs defending themselves as not having defected did not stand to reason. Sibal further said that the nine rebel Congress MlAs had met the Governor about fall of the Harish Rawat government on the morning of March 18, hours before they joined hands with BJP inside the House against the government.
He said that BJP having purchased them was crystal clear from the fact.
Continuing with his argument, Sibal said that the lawyers representing the rebels had sought time from the High Court as they had moved Supreme Court expressing their lack of confidence in the wisdom of the High Court. Seeking to bolster the Speaker’s action, Sibal said that the Chief Minister being the face of the government, opposing him was tantamount to defection.
Notably, the rebel MlAs had moved Uttarakhand High Court, challenging their disqualification by Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal a few hours after President's Rule had been imposed on the State on March 27. The petition was filed before the single bench of Justice UC Dhyani against the Speaker's action, questioning its justifiability on the ground that it had been taken after invocation of Article 356 in the State when the Assembly was already under suspended animation.
Nine rebel Congress leaders are Vijay Bahuguna, Harak Singh Rawat, Shailarani Rawat, Subodh Uniyal, Shailendra Mohan Singhal, Pradeep Batra, Umesh Sharma ‘Kau’, Amrita Rawat and Pranav Champion.