Central rule imposed not just on Governor's report: Rajkhowa

ITANAGAR: Outgoing Arunachal Pradesh Governor J P Rajkhowa today asserted that the brief spell of the President's Rule in the state from January 26 to February 19 was not imposed on the Governor's report only.

"The Central rule was imposed only after proper assessment and due application of mind by the President," he said in a message before leaving the state.

Rajkhowa, who had refused to quit after being nudged by the Centre to do so in the wake of the Supreme Court's judgement against him, was dismissed yesterday from the Governor's post.

On the advancement of the Assembly session and the July 13 judgement by a five-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court holding that as "un-constitutional" and ordering restoration of the status-quo, the Governor said he would not like to comment.

"I would not like to go into the merit or otherwise of the judgement and order of the Supreme Court, because the High Courts and the highest judiciary have the authority under the Constitution to interpret the constitutional provisions and pass their verdicts," he said.

"It was a great opportunity for me to serve all of you, to the best of my abilities, with honesty, integrity, utmost sincerity, full commitment and dedication with the objective of ushering in good governance," the outgoing Governor said.

Rajkhowa said in his message he was happy that most of the people of the state, particularly the young generation, wanted Arunachal Pradesh to be developed in all fronts in a corruption-free and balanced manner.

"Most of you have realised that without fair, transparent and corruption-free governance, people continue to suffer, economic development takes a back stage and unemployment level goes up.

He and his family were accorded a warm farewell by the well-wishers in the Raj Bhavan.