To Download Click here.

Date: 14-07-16

Landmark verdict:

SC strikes down BJP strategy of abusing Article 356 to unseat Congress governments

In a big blow for BJP but a big win for democratic federalism, yesterday the Supreme Court directed a status quo ante in Arunachal Pradesh as it prevailed on December 15, 2015. Effectively this means reinstating the Congress government of that day although a BJP-supported government has taken its place since then – but only with the abuse of governor’s powers. Coming on the heels of the court intervening against similar tactics in Uttarakhand, this historic judgment will check the Centre’s tendency to abuse governor’s powers and President’s rule to topple opposition state governments.

Article 356 has been invoked over 120 times since Independence. It suffered a welcome setback from the 1994 Bommai judgment which stipulated that a government’s majority should only be tested on the floor of the state assembly. Unfortunately, the Modi government dusted off the mothballs from Article 356, polished it up once again, to try to unseat properly elected governments in Arunachal and Uttarakhand. There have been murmurs of similar plans afoot against Congress governments in Manipur and Himachal Pradesh. The apex court has put paid to all such plans so Rahul Gandhi has justifiably tweeted, “Thank you Supreme Court for explaining to the prime minister what democracy is.”

Nabam Tuki will now resume office as Arunachal chief minister. The fate of the rebel Congress MLAs including Kalikho Pul who was sworn in as chief minister in February will have to be decided – but on the floor of the assembly rather than the governor’s chamber or Delhi. Ambedkar had hoped that Article 356 would remain a “dead letter”. The apex court has done its utmost to make sure it isn’t revived.

Date: 14-07-16

Bullying neighbours:

China’s unilateralism in South China Sea dispute undermines a fragile global order

China’s aspiration to be a globally respected power is at stake following an adverse ruling on its territorial claims in South China Sea at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). China’s outright rejection of the ruling undermines institutions essential to rules-based international engagement. China would do well to emulate India. In 2014, when PCA upheld Bangladesh’s position on delimitation of maritime boundary between the two countries, India accepted the verdict and rejected the “might is right” approach that China is now conveying.

The territorial dispute in South China Sea has wide ramifications. About half of global oil tanker shipments pass through it. China’s aggressive approach in enforcing the so-called ‘nine-dash line’ – its unilateral demarcation line claiming most of the South China Sea – resulted in Philippines approaching PCA in 2013. PCA’s tribunal investigated China’s territorial claim and found it unconvincing. Instead, it found China has violated Philippines’s sovereign rights. As a leading global power, it is incumbent upon China to respect the PCA award. More so as China is a member state of PCA, an intergovernmental organisation providing dispute redressal services. If an impartial arbitrator is ignored, the world will revert to 19th century gunboat diplomacy in a 21st century era of nuclear weapons, when keeping the peace has become even more imperative.

India too has been a victim of Chinese unilateralism, as China’s actions appear calculated to thwart India’s rise. China lays claim to Arunachal Pradesh. It declared that there was no “consensus” for India’s joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group, then became the sole exception to that consensus and was instrumental in blocking India’s bid. It shielded international outlaw Hafiz Saeed at Pakistan’s behest. Now, by cocking a snook at the PCA judgment, China is behaving as an international outlaw itself.

China should realise the damage it is doing to its reputation by seeking to unilaterally impose its will on its neighbours. Hard might isn’t everything, soft power matters too. India should invite China to settle their boundary dispute in a spirit of mutual give and take. The same spirit should inform China’s maritime disputes with its neighbours in the South China Sea, in place of nebulous ‘nine-dash lines’. China has gained a great deal from the rules-based global order as it stands today. By seeking to undermine it China not only hurts its neighbours but itself as well.

Date: 14-07-16

Apex Court to the aid of democracy:

Welcome ruling on Article 365 in Arunachal

The Supreme Court has reinstated the sanctity of a floor test for deciding if a chief minister has the confidence of his House. This should dissuade further attempts to manipulate a majority out of political dissidence in ruling parties in states as had been tried in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. On Wednesday, a five judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court unanimously quashed Arunachal Pradesh governor J P Rajkhowa’s decision to advance the assembly session from January, 2016 to December, 2015. This had poured fuel on infighting in the Congress regime led by Nabam Tuki. On January 24, the Centre imposed President’s rule in this sensitive northeastern state. Now, the SC has ordered a return to the situation prevailing on December 15, 2015, when Tuki was chief minister.

The order is welcome. It will curb an undemocratic, authoritarian trend through the 1970s and 1980s, when the Centre used Article 356 to topple elected state governments on its whim. In 1994, a nine-judge bench of the SC put paid to this undemocratic practice by ruling that the only place to judge whether the ruling party had a majority was on the floor of the House. It also made the imposition of Article 356, President’s rule, contingent on a ‘Constitutional breakdown’, subject to judicial review. This is a powerful check on the political machinations of the Centre. The SC has proved a worthy foil to executive excess once again, the last time being its intervention in Uttarakhand. For the BJP-led government at the Centre, the Court verdict comes as a setback. Between January and March, 2016, it used Article 356 in Arunachal and Utttarakhand.

In the latter, after courts invoked the floor test rule, toppled Harish Rawat was restored as chief minister. In Arunachal, Article 356 has been shot down by the SC. It is now up to Tuki, who held a comfortable 42-MLA majority in a house of 60, to defeat rival Kalikho Pul, dismissed earlier on graft charges. Judiciary has done its job by stopping the Centre’s overbearing tactics in its tracks. Politics will now hold the key to power in Arunachal.

Date: 14-07-16

फैसला ऐतिहासिक पर इतिहास नहीं बदलेगा

विराग गुप्ता