New Delhi:
With the ruling Congress deciding to withdraw a controversial ordinance that allows convicted lawmakers to stay in office, President Pranab Mukherjee has been spared a tough decision on a measure that he had reportedly been told was legally flawed.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveyed the decision to the President before he left for his official visit to Belgium and Turkey.
Mr Mukherjee, who received the ordinance last Wednesday for approval, reportedly consulted Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati, former solicitor general Harish Salve and former law secretary TK Vishwanathan in a series of meetings.
Sources say the legal experts advised him that the ordinance was legally untenable and would be challenged in court.
The ordinance tries to circumvent a Supreme Court order to allow convicted MPs and MLAs to stay on without salary or voting rights while their appeal is being heard.
The top lawyers also told the President that the ordinance needed changes, said sources.
The President had expressed his reservations soon after receiving the ordinance, a day before Rahul Gandhi publicly trashed it as 'complete nonsense."
Mr Mukherjee, 77, who was the government's top troubleshooter till he took on the role of President in July last year, had earlier called three union ministers to seek clarifications. He had been reportedly unsure about the need and timing of such an ordinance.
The union ministers, including Law Minister Kapil Sibal, had reportedly told the President that the ordinance was needed to avoid a "vacuum in law" after a Bill on this could not be passed in Parliament. The government has accused the BJP of backtracking after agreeing on the Bill to amend the law and skirt around the Supreme Court's ruling disqualifying MPs and MLAs immediately after conviction in a criminal case.