SC shuts 15day window, BSY must pass test today
KARNATAKA Both sides ‘confident’; Bopaiah appointment as protem speaker kicks off new controversy
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa to prove he enjoys majority support in the assembly on Saturday evening, shortening the 15-day window he had received from the state’s governor to face a floor test, as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rivals for power scampered to hold their flock together.
In a ruling that the Congress party termed “historic”, a special bench comprising Justices AK Sikri, SA Bobde and Ashok Bhushan directed the appointment of a pro-tem speaker to oversee the floor test at 4pm “as per the rules of the House”.
The Karnataka legislative assembly will be convened at 11am on Saturday for conducting the Supreme Court-mandated floor test, according to a notification issued by governor Vajubhai Vala.
He also appointed BJP leader and former speaker KG Bopaiah as the pro-tem speaker, leading to protests by the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular). The two alliance partners mounted a legal challenge against Bopaiah’s appointment in the SC, which will hear the plea at 10.30am on Saturday.
Friday’s Supreme Court order came on a petition filed by the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) combine challenging governor Vala’s invitation to Yeddyurappa on Wednesday to form the government after the May 12 assembly election produced a hung House. The BJP has 104 seats in a house with an effective strength of 222. The Congress has 78 seats, JD(S) 37 and three seats went to others.
With Bopaiah becoming protem speaker, his vote will be counted only in the case of a tie, so the BJP has an effective strength of 103. To win the floor test, Yeddyurappa will need seven more votes.
Governor Vala gave Yeddyurappa 15 days on Wednesday to face a floor test, to clear which he will need the support of defectors from other political parties, members of which would need to resign or abstain from voting.
The Supreme Court bench remarked that going by the report on Centre-state relations prepared in the 1980s by a Commission headed by RS Sarkaria, inviting the largest party to form government was not “illegal”. However, keeping the circumstances in mind, the court thought it fit to order the floor test “without any delay”.
The court directed the director general of police of Karnataka to ensure law and order and asked Yeddyurappa, who was sworn in on Thursday, not to take any policy decisions until the floor test is completed.
The court said that no AngloIndian member would be nominated to the assembly until after the test.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to notify its scheme to constitute and give effect to the 10-member Cauvery Water Management Authority before the onset of the south-west monsoon, effectively bringing an end to the decades-long dispute over the sharing of the river’s waters.
A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also disposed of Tamil Nadu’s contempt petition against the Centre for not complying with the court’s February verdict on a water-sharing arrangement between the riparian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and the union territory of Puducherry.
The court noted in its Friday order that there is a distress situation in the state of Tamil Nadu because of a scarcity of water, which can be remedied to some extent by the effective implementation of the scheme.
The Centre’s assurance that it would implement the SC verdict was accepted by the court, which said the judgement on distribution and apportionment of water should be taken to its logical end with “utmost dispatch.”
Under the scheme, the states are to furnish an indent to the authority for the water supplies required by them on each reservoir site. Karnataka and Kerala had objected to this provision, saying states cannot be compelled to disclose such information because it would amount to interference with states’ rights.
The court dismissed the submissions as devoid of merit. “This objection does not commend us in as much as the necessity to furnish/place an indent of water demand and about the total water reservoir is to work out the quantity of river water to be released during the relevant period in consonance with the proportion specified in the Award as modified by this Court. That is to further the rights of the States/U.T. for just and reasonable use of water from the allocable water on equitable basis and not to impinge upon their rights and more so for smooth and effective implementation of the Award as modified by this Court,” the court said. The government filed the draft scheme before the court on Monday outlining how it proposes to follow the court’s February judgment allocating the share of the waters of the Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, weeks after being pulled up for failing to implement the court’s order.
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have fought over the river for more than a century now. On February 16, the Supreme Court reduced the quantity of water Karnataka was asked to supply to Tamil Nadu by 14.75 tmc (thousand million cubic litres).
The SC agreed with the Centre’s submissions that the scheme is essentially to ensure smooth and effective implementation. The implementation, court said, would be strictly in accordance with the distribution of water to the respective States/U.T. in consonance with the award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal, as modified by the Court.
The authority will be bound by the contours of the award and will take into account all factors that may be relevant at a given point of time, including to identify the situation of distress in the basin caused due to identifiable factors before quantifying the water for being released or allotted to the States/U.T. for the relevant period.
The south-west monsoon, the lifeline for India’s farmers and the key factor influencing the rural economy, is expected to arrive slightly ahead of its scheduled date of May 29, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The prediction comes with a model error of plusor-minus 4 days. The monsoons usually sets in over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands before the Indian mainland. This year, it will arrive over the islands on May 23, as per the forecast.