Karnataka crisis: Bhardwaj hides behind SC order

Headed by present Karnataka Lokayukta,the 2004 SC order said Governor should act at his own discretion.

In his tussle with the BJP government in the state,Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj has taken shelter behind a Supreme Court judgment of 2004.

Bhardwaj,who on Friday dismissed as unwarranted a resolution adopted by the state Cabinet asking him to drop proceedings for prosecution of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on corruption charges,has cited the 2004 judgment of a five-judge Bench headed by present Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde,which said while deciding a request for grant of sanction to prosecute the Chief Minister,the Governor would as a matter of propriety,necessarily act in his own discretion and not on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

Bhardwaj,who has been having a running battle with the state government,which many see as a result of his political leanings rather than a quest for justice and fair-play,was on January 19 asked by the state Cabinet to drop the proceedings to prosecute Yeddyurappa and Home Minister R Ashoka on alleged scams on the basis of a complaint filed by lawyers forum,saying such a move was nothing short of a farce and colourable exercise on his part.

In its judgment,authored by Justice S N Variava,the Bench had dismissed the plea of two former ministers of Madhya Pradesh challenging the decision of the Governor to allow their prosecution in a corruption case,disregarding in the process the advice to the contrary of the state Cabinet.

However,former Lok Sabha secretary general and Constitutional expert Subhash C Kashyap described the Governors decision as unfortunate and constitutionally painful.

Such permission to prosecute the CM or any minister has to be first sought from the government and not directly from the Governor. This case creates an unanticipated scenario,where it seems that the decision of the Governor may not be beyond question and could be viewed as a political decision. It would be interesting to see on whose advice the Governor went and what procedure he adopted. Karnataka is a strange case of the Governor pitted continuously against his own government, Kashyap told The Indian Express.