NEW DELHI: Saving the Central government from humiliation the Supreme Court has on Friday stayed the Uttarakhand high Court orders pertaining to the cancellation of the President’s rule in Uttarakhand state. The apex court said that it has issued a ‘Stay order’ as it hasn’t received the written verdict from the HC yet.
Earlier, the High court of Uttarakhand revoked the presidential rule and directed the ruling-government to prove its majority on April 29th. Following the HC verdict, the Central government has immediately rushed to the apex court in India to get stay orders. Though the stay orders provided an instant relief to the Central government from criticism of the opposition, the legality of the Central government imposing presidential rule in Uttarakhand will only be known in the next hearing.
The Supreme court bench comprising of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh said that it cannot respond to the arguments of the parties unless it receives a judgement copy from the Uttarakhand High court. The bench also directed the High court to send a copy of it’s verdict as soon as possible.
On the other hand, the Supreme court has refused to comment on the lower court’s directive to conduct a floor test on April 29th. “We have scheduled the next hearing on April 27th. So, the issue will be sorted out well before and we are not ready to comment on any excerpts of the said judgement until we receive a hard copy of the same”.
The top court has also warned the Central government over taking advantage of the Stay order. “The order has been given because of a technical issue (unavailability of the verdict order), it does not mean that we have given our nod to the presidential rule in Uttarakhand”, the apex court bench commented.