‘President can be horribly wrong’

Questioning the union cabinet’s decision to recommend President’s Rule, the court noted that the Governor, in his report, had not mentioned that 35 MLAS had sought division of votes.

“He(governor),inhisfirstreport,doesn’t record his personal satisfaction that there were27bjpmlasand9congressmlaswho sought division on March 18. There is absolutelynomaterialforthecabinettosaythat 35Mlassoughtdivision.thegovernor’sreportissilentonthis.thisisverycrucial,”said the bench.

It added that the removal of the advocate general by the state cabinet was not the Governor’s concern. “Why is it the concern of the Governor... Does that warrant imposition of President’s Rule? This is irrelevant. And I must say that I’m shocked,” said the bench.

The court sought a clarification from the Centre on its earlier allegation that the Speaker had not taken action against suspended BJP legislator Bhim Lal Arya, after the BJP sought his disqualification.

Singhvi said the BJP filed the complaint against Arya on April 5, and the Speaker sought a reply from Arya on April 12. “Their arguments that he didn’t take any action is baseless. They have misled the court (in stating) that the matter was before the Speaker from March,” said Singhvi.

“Why was the complaint filed on April 5 after President’s Rule was imposed? We were thinking why the Speaker has double standards (that he disqualified the nine rebel Congress MLAS but kept the complaint against Arya pending)... This is terrible. You are making such terrible allegations (against the Speaker). Is this how Government of India functions? What do you (Centre) have to say about this? This is not to be taken lightly as that (Speaker’s conductregardingdisqualification)wasalso the basis of President’s satisfaction. We are taking a serious note of this,” said the bench.

The court also questioned the “secrecy” regarding the Cabinet note on imposing President’s Rule, and asked why it should not be discussed in court or given to the petitioner.

The bench is likely to reserve its verdict on Thursday after the Centre submits its clarification on Arya.