The Centre imposed President's Rule in Uttarakhand on March 27, a day before a trust vote would determine whether Harish Rawat had a majority on the floor.
The Uttarakhand High Court today observed that the only constitutional way to test a state government's majority is to do it on the floor of the assembly.
The two-judge bench is hearing a case against the dismissal of the Congress government of Chief Minister Harish Rawat and the imposition of President's Rule in the hill state three weeks ago.
"The fact that someone has done a sting operation to show horse-trading is not at all relevant... The only constitutional way is to test on the floor of the assembly," the court said, also adding, "Even if it is assumed that there is horse-trading, you will have to do a floor test."
The High Court in Nainital is filled with top lawyers and since the morning, the court first heard the final arguments of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the Centre and then senior lawyer Harish Salve, who argued on behalf of the state of Uttarakhand.
As he wrapped up his arguments, Mr Rohatgi had handed over a pen drive to the court with the sting operation on it. The Centre has pleaded that it had to bring Uttarakhand under president's rule because of a constitutional breakdown in the state.
It has countered the Congress' demand that Mr Rawat must be allowed to prove his majority on the floor of the House, by arguing that Mr Rawat's government was already shown to be in a minority when it failed to get the state budget passed in the house with nine rebel lawmakers of the Congress joining the opposition to vote against the government.
The Centre imposed President's Rule in Uttarakhand on March 27, removing the state government a day before a trust vote would determine whether Mr Rawat had majority support in the assembly.
The Congress has alleged that the state's Governor KK Paul helped the BJP-led Centre remove a democratically elected government.
The court, which had said yesterday that the Governor "is not an agent of the Centre," today said, "The Centre has to respect the voters' decision."
The Congress' Abhishek Manu Singhvi will make his final arguments tomorrow.