Uttarakhand Crisis: Centre Sending AG To Nainital For Stay On Order

In a bind after the Uttarakhand High Court ordered a floor test in the assembly on March 31, the Centre decided Tuesday to rush its top law officer, Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi, to Nainital. On Wednesday, when the High Court begins its sitting, the AG and other senior law officers, including Additional Solicitors General Maninder Singh and Tushar Mehta, are likely to seek a stay on the single judge's order. Immediately after the order, senior functionaries of the Central government went into a huddle, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley giving inputs on the phone from Sydney where he is on a four-day tour. After the AG gave the opinion that the High Court order was erroneous since it went against the law settled by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the S R Bommai versus Union of India and Rameshwar Prasad and others versus Union of India, it was decided to challenge the order before a division bench of the Uttarakhand High Court. Sources said President Pranab Mukherjee, who had issued the proclamation through which President's rule was imposed in the state and the assembly placed in suspended animation, was also briefed on the matter. Sources privy to government deliberations told The Indian Express that the government is of the view that the High Court order is erroneous since it doesn't go by the law laid down in the Bommai case and reiterated in the Rameshwar Prasad case. Read more.