President’s Rule in Uttarakhand was lifted on Wednesday as the Union Cabinet recommended its revocation after the Supreme Court set the stage for the comeback of Chief Minister Harish Rawat, declaring him to be victorious in the floor test conducted on Tuesday.
Even before the apex court could open the sealed cover produced by Principal Secretary of Uttarakhand legislature, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi made a statement that the Centre will revoke President’s Rule in the course of the day. All he needed was a modification of the top court’s April 22 order by which President’s Rule was restored in the State despite the Uttarakhand High Court declaring it to be invalid.
“The Harish Rawat Government ought to be restored forthwith. He has got majority as is clear from Press reports and my instructions are that we (Centre) will be revoked,” Rohatgi said.
Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh amended its earlier order to enable the Centre to revoke the Presidential Proclamation of March 27, 2016 after the Bench was convinced that Rawat had won the confidence vote by securing 33 out of 61 votes. It clarified, “Needless to say, after the President’s Rule is revoked, respondent (Harish Rawat) can assume the office of Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.”
The court asked the Centre to produce a copy of the revocation order on Friday for passing further directions.
Though it seemed that the Centre’s concession would set all controversy to rest, the SC kept the political pot boiling in Uttarakhand by suggesting it will still go into the question whether imposing President’s Rule was a “justifiable” decision. Since the petition challenging disqualification of nine rebel Congress MlAs is also pending in the SC, the consequence to follow if the disqualification of the nine rebel Congress MlAs was set aside will also be looked into by the court.
Minutes after the court order, the Union Cabinet met briefly at Parliament House at around 12.45 pm and decided to revoke the President’s Rule. A senior Government functionary later told mediapersons, “The Cabinet has recommended revocation of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand.”
The Congress, apprehensive of the Centre’s next move, had come to court armed with an application for giving effect to the floor test and install Rawat as Chief Minister.
But it was a different mood altogether after Rohatgi’s opening remarks. While parties agreed that the main petition challenging the President’s Rule can be heard in September or even later, the Bench said, “Once there is a judicial interdiction, the issue needs to be tested as to whether the Presidential Proclamation was wrong or not.”
One among the nine disqualified MlAs Shaila Rani Rawat was also represented in the court through her lawyer Ml Sharma. He said that the question of their disqualification was still alive as the Speaker could not have taken action against them when President’s Rule was in place. The Bench kept the suspense remaining as it said, “Suppose we set aside the disqualification, there may be another floor test…What will be the effect in case disqualification is set at naught is still a matter of debate.”