Uttarakhand High Court held on Thursday that the Centre had wrongly declared President's Rule in the state.
Highlights
- Centre appeals in top court to bring Uttarakhand under President's Rule
- Argument to focus on Harish Rawat's inability to pass budget, say sources
- Govt may appeal for 9 rebel Congress MLAs to be reinstated: Sources
The Modi government is confident it can convince the Supreme Court that it took the right decision in bringing
Uttarakhand under President's Rule, a move overturned by the state's High Court on Thursday.
This morning, the
Centre moved the Supreme Court which will hear the case today.
Top sources in the government said its argument will be centred around its claim that Chief Minister Harish Rawat had on March 18, failed to get the state budget passed in the assembly, with nine lawmakers of his Congress party voting against him.
This, the Centre argues, brought the Rawat government to a minority and resulted in a "constitutional crisis," a contention rejected by the High Court.
Sources say the assembly bulletin from that day clearly states that BJP and rebel lawmakers had demanded a division of votes, or physical voting, but the Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal declared the budget passed by voice vote. Rules say that even if a single member of the House demands division, it must be held.
A physical vote, the Centre contends, would have revealed Mr Rawat's minority status.
"There is a big question mark over the budget. In fact, the governor in his report had said that the state assembly had not sent the Appropriation Bill for approval till March 28, a senior official said.
There is, however, a section within the government that cautions that the Supreme Court might question the imposition of President's Rule on March 28, only a day before Chief Minister Rawat was to seek a trust vote.
On Thursday, the Uttarakhand court tore into the Centre for its decision to remove a "democratically elected government" a day before the trust vote and said President's Rule must only be a last resort.
Sources say the government will also appeal to the Supreme Court to reinstate the nine Congress legislators disqualified by the Uttarakhand Speaker, so that they can vote when Mr Rawat seeks a trust vote on April 29 as ordered by the High Court.
The Uttarakhand court upheld the disqualification of the rebel Congressmen.