Centre to move SC today after HC quashes Prez rule in Uttarakhand

The Centre will move the Supreme Court today challenging the Uttarakhand High Court order quashing the proclamation of President's rule in the state.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on Thursday said he will mention the matter before the bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur on Friday morning seeking a stay on the verdict, which has revived the Congress government headed by Harish Rawat.

"The High Court was wrong in quashing the Presidential notification. The Presidential notification is based on relevant material," he said referring to the some of the important grounds for challenge to the High Court judgement.

The Attorney General also said that the Centre had nothing to do with disqualified MLAs and it was only concerned with the Presidential notification.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, a legal luminary himself, Nripendra Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, besides Rohatgi met at Shah's house and deliberated on the implications of the HC order and the options before the party and the government.

Source said that Jaitley, who returned from the US earlier in the day, and others felt that there were enough grounds to challenge the order which is being seen as a big blow to the Modi government.

The High Court said the imposition of President's rule under Article 356 of the Constitution was contrary to the law laid down by the apex court.

"The Appropriation Bill, passed on March 18, was actually not passed and despite that the Speaker certified it which really means the government has fallen. By Speaker's order minority government was allowed to continue," Rohatgi said.

Meanwhile, Harish Rawat termed the Uttarakhand High Court verdict as 'peoples' victory'. "This is a victory of people of Uttarakhand. We welcome the verdict. The whole country knows who was behind the political instability in the state," Rawat said.

Responding to the judgement, BJP said, “The Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand is in minority and this will be proved on April 29.”

"The kind of observations the state High Court has been making for last three days, we are not surprised by its order," said BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.

The Court’s decision came just hours after it came down heavily on the Centre for imposing the President’s Rule and then mulling on revoking it.