Prez decision not infallible: U’khand HC on Article 356

SNUB AGAIN Govt says President’s call to impose Art 356 taken in ‘political wisdom’, court replies that too subject to judicial review

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NAINITAL: The President can be an excellent person but he can also go “terribly wrong”, the Uttarakhand high court said on Wednesday, snubbing the Centre’s defence of its decision to sack chief minister Harish Rawat’s government in the hill state.

President Pranab Mukherjee sanctioned central rule on March 27 after the NDA government cited “governance breakdown” in the state. Rawat, whose government plunged into crisis after nine of his MLAs sided with the opposition BJP, has challenged the Centre’s move in court.

“No one is king, there is no absolutism. The President can be an excellent person but he can go terribly wrong, the judges can go terribly wrong,” the court said.

“We don’t doubt the President’s wisdom but everything is subject to judicial review.”

The bench of chief justice KM Joseph and justice VK Bist also warned the Centre against revoking Article 356, under which President’s Rule is imposed, while the petition is still being heard by the court. “We hope they will not provoke us,” it said.

The court’s remarks are the latest in a string of scathing observations against the Centre, which has argued that courts cannot have jurisdiction over a presidential decision. On Wednesday, additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta contended that the President was a man of political wisdom and “not a tax inspector to put his signatures anywhere”.

Senior Congress leader and advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for Rawat, feared that central rule could be lifted before a court judgment to let the “opposition” form a government. The BJP had staked claim to power with 35 lawmakers, including the nine Congress MLAs who were dismissed under the anti-defection law.