Nainital – Tomorrow’s floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly, ordered by a single judge of the High Court, was today stayed by the Division Bench till April 7, giving yet another twist to the continuing political drama in
the state.
The Bench of Chief Justice K M Joseph and Justice V K Bisht passed the order on a petition filed by the Centre against yesterday’s single judge directive for floor test tomorrow.
The order came after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, strongly opposed yesterday’s order saying courts cannot interfere with the Presidential proclamation.
“By consent order, the Honourable Division Bench stayed the order of single judge till April 7,” said advocate Nalin Kohli, who was part of the team representing the Centre.
The next date of hearing before the Division Bench is April 6, he said.
Earlier, the trust vote was slated for March 28 but the Centre imposed President’s Rule on March 27, citing “breakdown of Constitutional machinery” in the state.
This was challenged by ousted Chief Minister Harish Rawat before the single judge U C Dhyani of the High Court.
The single judge, while ordering the floor test on March 31, had also allowed nine disqualified rebel Congress MLAs to participate in the voting.
Congress was unhappy and had planned to challenge this aspect of the order.
