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Apex court rejects BSP petition against Governor
Our Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, September 8
The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition by the BSP challenging the action of Uttar Pradesh Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri inviting Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav to form the government after the Mayawati ministry was reduced to a minority on the withdrawal of support by the BJP following the CBI probe into the Taj Heritage Corridor scam.

Declining to entertain the petition filed by BSP parliamentary party leader Rashid Alvi, a Bench comprising Mr Justice S Rajendra Babu and Mr G.P. Mathur said the matter did not call for the intervention of the court and the petition was accordingly dismissed.

The court said the dismissal order should not be construed as approval of the Governor’s action nor should it be taken as disapproval of the same.

“We make it clear that the dismissal of the petition is neither the approval nor disapproval of the Governor’s action,” the Bench said.

According to Constitution experts this would imply that the court had declined to go into the merits of the Governor’s action as it had rejected the petition at the notice stage without hearing the Union and the Uttar Pradesh Governments.

The senior advocate appearing for the BSP said the Governor had not even considered the letter of the outgoing Chief Minister recommending the dissolution of the Assembly.

Stating that the Governor’s action had “opened the flood gate for large-scale defection engineered through horse-trading,” the BSP counsel claimed when Ms Mayawati had sent the letter recommending the dissolution, she was in majority.

Stating that the Governor had acted in violation of the laid down procedure, convention and the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission and the Bhagwan Sahai Committee, which had laid down that when a Chief Minister with majority support recommends dissolution of the House, the Governor was boud to accept it.

“The Governor should have at least looked into the letter of the Chief Minister, but she did not get any response from the Governor. This opened a flood gate for the large scale defection which is unfortunate as in no parliamentary democracy in the world this kind of buying and selling of legislators is permitted,” the BSP counsel contended.