Apex court's notice seals MP Guv's fate

The days of Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav in the office seem numbered. With the Supreme Court on Thursday admitting a petition to revive the FIR against the Governor in the Vyapam scam and issuing a notice to him, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh met President Pranab Mukherjee to apprise him of the development. Yadav is thus expected to either resign or get sacked after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from his Central Asia tour next week. 

Earlier, the Governor had got the FIR quashed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court citing Constitutional immunity from criminal prosecution. Though both the MHA and the Rashtrapati Bhavan officials were tightlipped about the meeting between Mukherjee and Singh, it is learnt that a final decision on the continuance of Yadav would be taken soon after Modi’s arrival. Highly-placed sources said the Home Minister has made it clear that it was not at all ethical for Yadav to continue as the Governor. 

Home secretary lC Goyal too met Home Minister Rajnath Singh to decide Yadav’s future. “He could resign on his own or get sacked,” the sources said adding “the choice is his”. The Governor was named in an FIR and was accused of recommending names of five candidates to be appointed as forest guards. A Congress man and UPA appointee, Yadav’s five-year tenure ends in August 2016.

Earlier in the day, issuing notice to Yadav for responding within four weeks, the bench headed by Chief Justice Hl Dattu heard the petitioners - a group of lawyers from Madhya Pradesh — who argued that instead of taking cover under the Constitution, a high constitutional authority of his stature should quit and allow criminal proceedings against him to continue.

The Bench, also comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy, was not inclined to order anything beyond issuing notice to both the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and Madhya Pradesh Government, besides Yadav.The High Court on May 5, 2015, had quashed the FIR dated February 24, 2015, accusing Yadav of being part of a criminal conspiracy to recommend five persons to the post of forest guard. These five candidates resorted to unfair means in the examination conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (Vyapam).

The lawyers represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal pointed out that the immunity under Article 361(2) enjoyed by a Governor allowed him immunity only from arrest and not to block the probe in a criminal case against him. Sibal showed that the HC on February 20, 2015, was convinced of the Governor’s complicity in the case when it granted permission to the Special Task Force of MP Police to lodge FIR against Yadav. But on May 5, there was a complete U-turn by the HC bench.

“If there is a serious allegation against a high functionary like a Governor, would there be no FIR. Is this what the law of the land intends that any investigation against him should wait for five years,” argued Sibal. Interestingly, both the Union Government and the State Government supported registration of FIR against Yadav before the High Court.