Chidambaram backs Bhardwaj,Jaitley says he acted on his own

Chidambaram cited a leading case MP Special Police Establishment Vs State of Madhya Pradesh to argue his point.

A day after Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj gave sanction for prosecuting Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on the basis of a petition filed by two lawyers,Union Home Minister P Chidambaram argued that Bhardwaj was well within his rights to do a point debunked by senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley.

Chidambaram,while slamming the BJP for hitting the streets and asking the state government to maintain law and order,pointed out that the law,in regard to a Governor giving sanction to prosecute a CM or a Minister,is clear and well-settled. He said it was not the first time that a Governor has given his sanction to prosecute a CM or a Minister of the State Government.

Chidambaram cited a leading case MP Special Police Establishment Vs State of Madhya Pradesh to argue his point. That was a case in which the then Governor of Madhya Pradesh,Bhai Mahavir,overruled the advice of the Cabinet and granted sanction to prosecute two Ministers. A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court upheld the order of the Governor, he said. Saying that the purpose of his statement was to set out the constitutional and legal position,Chidambaram also mentioned Karnataka Lok Ayukta Justice Santosh Hegdes remarks that the Governor had the jurisdiction to grant sanction for prosecution.

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What the Union Home Minister has ignored is the explicit observation of the Supreme Court that although the Governor can act independent of the decision of the Council of Ministers,and act in his own discretion,yet the issue of sanction has to be first considered by the Council of Ministers, said Jaitley.

Jaitley said the Governor,by acting on his own,without waiting for the advice of the Council of Ministers,besides having acted unconstitutionally,has challenged the basis of democratic functioning where primacy is given to the Council of Ministers. Jaitley also pointed out that under Section 197 of the CrPC and Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act,such sanction was required only at the stage of taking cognizance of the offence and not at the stage of filing of a complaint. However,the Governor has chosen to precipitate the matter of granting sanction even when the stage for taking cognizance of the offence has not reached,only to create an adverse environment against the CM, he said.

Meanwhile,BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy alleged that the Home Minister,Law Minister Veerappa Moily and Governor have all come together to dislodge the Karnataka government. They have taken a stand completely opposite to the Supreme Court observations.