SC slams Centre for Arunachal; Cong Govt restored in state

Soon after the Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Central government for its role in the removal of the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh, Nabam Tuki, the deposed Chief Minister, took charge at Arunachal Bhavan in New Delhi.

The apex court had restored the erstwhile Congress government in the state, quashing all the Governor’s decisions that had occasioned its collapse in January. Those decisions were “violative” of the Constitution, the court said.

The apex court’s ruling was a big embarrassment for the Narendra Modi government as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party—especially, after Uttarakhand, where also it wanted to oust Harish Rawat as Chief Minister. At the same time, it was a great fillip for the Congress, the ineptitude of its leadership, particularly vice-president Rahul Gandhi, had created the situation in the first place.

In a separate judgment, Justice Madan B. Lokur annulled the Assembly Deputy Speaker’s order quashing the Speaker’s decision to disqualify 14 rebel Congress MLAs on December 15, 2015.

The Congress has 47 MLAs in a House of 60, but 21 of them are said to be rebels. The BJP has 11, and two are Independents. The Speaker had disqualified 14 Congress MLAs.

“The judgment has to be implemented and the Governor will take all necessary actions and steps,” Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said after a meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence.

While the official position of both the government and the BJP is that they would study the verdict, the party is reportedly unhappy with the judgment.