Jethmalani asks CJI to let him argue against governor’s move to invite BJP
NEW DELHI: Senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani approached the Chief Justice Of India Dipak Misra with his plea to let him argue in his personal capacity against the Karnataka governor’s decision to invite the BJP to form government in the state, saying it was a “gross abuse of constitutional power”.
A three-judge bench led by CJI Misra asked Jethmalani to mention the matter before Justice AK Sikri’s court, which will hear Janata Dal (S) and Congress’s petition against the governor’s decision on Friday morning.
A special bench headed by Justice Sikri had on Thursday early morning declined to stay the oath ceremony of BS Yedyurappa as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. But it had asked senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi to produce the letter written by Yedyurappa to the governor contending he had the majority. On Friday the bench is expected to pursue the letter.
“The governor’s order is a gross abuse of the constitutional power and this has brought disrepute to the constitutional office he has been holding,”jethmalani submitted while seeking nod to submit his views in the case. He said that he has not come before the court in favour or against any party but has been hurt over the unconstitutional decision taken by the Governor.
In a related development the Congress-jd(s) combine moved an application against Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala’s decision to nominate an Anglo-indian member to the assembly, saying it should not be done till the floor test in the House. The application will also be heard with the main matter on Friday.
The nomination, the application stated, should be set aside till Yeddyurappa undergoes the floor test in the House to prove majority. “The use of Governor’s office for such ill-conceived and unconstitutional political ambitions and desires would amount to a death knell to democracy which is a basic feature of our Constitution,” read the plea, mentioned by advocate Devdutt Kamat, counsel of Congress-jd(s) combine.