SC rejects plea for status quo in Arunachal

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow a plea for maintaining status quo in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly which has been kept under suspended animation on January 26.

A five-judge Constitution bench presided by Justice J S Khehar did not allow a plea made by Fali S Nariman, appearing for the Congress leaders, that a direction be issued not to disturb the status quo as the matter is still pending before the court.

Nariman referred to a communication sent by Deputy Speaker T Norbu Thongdok to the governor, seeking permission to perform duties of Speaker. The counsel’s submission reflected the fear that the rebel Congress MLAs, along with BJP legislators may impress upon the governor for exploring possibility of fresh government formation in the north-eastern state
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He also said the governor, on his part, has sought opinion of law department on the letter. This should not be allowed till the permission from the court, Nariman said.

To this, the bench said, “Our permission is not required for everything. We don’t want anybody to subject to our jurisdiction.” Meanwhile, the bench, also comprising Justices Dipak Misra, M B Lokur, P C Ghosh and N V Ramana, asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to provide the list of documents seized from offices of deposed Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Nabam Tuki and his cabinet colleagues after imposition of President’s Rule in the state.

Rohatgi said most papers, running into lakhs of pages, may be “irrelevant and unrelated”. The court then asked him to provide the petitioners the list only so that they would be able to point out the relevant documents required for buttressing their arguments against the decision to impose President’s Rule in the state.