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Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court today concluded its hearing of the Bihar Assembly case but the uncertainty over the ongoing election process wasn’t dispelled.
The bench, headed by Justice Y K Sabharwal, said that if it decides to quash the notification dissolving the Assembly, then it would ensure that the operative part of its judgment was delivered any day before October 18, the first of the four poll dates. This means that the bench, in such a scenario, will have to pronounce its verdict by the end of next week because the apex court is due to close for the Dasara vacation from October 8 to 16.
If the court allows the petitions challenging the dissolution, that would not necessarily bring the ongoing election to a halt. For, the court is not bound to exercise the power conferred on it by the 1994 Bommai verdict to restore the dissolved Assembly.
The court has the discretion to mould its relief in keeping with the circumstances. Since the notifications for two of the four phases of polling have already been issued, the court may choose to invalidate the dissolution without disrupting the election process.
Taking the election as a fait accompli, the court may prefer not to restore the Assembly even as it faults the notification issued by President A P J Abdul Kalam on May 23.
The court also indicated that if it finds the dissolution valid, which is a less likely scenario, it will not have any reason to deliver its operative part before October 18. The election will then proceed unhindered and the verdict will anyway have only academic value.
