Governor should have "stayed his hands": Uttarakhand High Court

NAINITAL: The Uttarakhand High Court today observed that the state Governor should have "stayed his hands" while dealing with the Speaker over proceedings in the Assembly saying he (Speaker)is also a Constitutional authority and "any intrusion" into his freedom should be guarded.

Making these observations at the end of a day-long hearing, the division bench of the court said that this case was going to be an example where boundaries between Constitutional authorities like President and Governor were drawn to ensure that powers "are not trampled upon by one or the other authority."

The bench, comprising Chief Justice KM Joseph and Justice VK Bist, observed that "ideally he (Governor) should have stayed his hands" while referring to the communication sent by the Governor to the Speaker regarding the MLAs memo for demand of division of votes.

"This amounts to giving an order over the phone. Any intrusion into freedom of Speaker has to be guarded. Speaker is also a Constitutional authority. Here some boundaries have been crossed," it said.

The court was hearing a plea for ousted Chief Minister Harish Rawat challenging the imposition of President's rule in on March 26 and related pleas.

It was commenting on the issue arising out of a letter of 35 MLAs, including nine rebel Congress MLAs, who had written to the Governor seeking a direction to the Speaker to allow their demand for a division of votes on the passage of the Appropriation Bill on March 18 and a communication from the Governor's secretariat on the subject.