The high court observed that ‘any intrusion’ into the Speaker’s freedom should be guarded.
The high court observed that ‘any intrusion’ into the Speaker’s freedom should be guarded.
The Uttarakhand high court Monday observed that the state governor should have “stayed his hands” while dealing with the Speaker over Assembly proceedings, 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 this case was going to be an example where boundaries between constitutional authorities like the President and governor were drawn to ensure that powers “are not trampled upon by one or the other authority”.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice K.M. Joseph and Justice V.K. Bist, observed that “ideally he (the 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. 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 the state on March 26 and related pleas.
