DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today said the Centre should allow the state governments to function and not take any step violating the Supreme Court rulings in the S R Bommai and others cases on the issue of imposition of President's rule.
The remarks came on a day when the Centre moved the apex court challenging the Uttarakhand High Court verdict quashing President's rule in the state.
Stressing that there should be no violation of the top court's rulings in the Bommai and other cases, Rawat said, "The Centre should allow the state governments to function on their own under the federal structure. The states have their own role."
In the Bommai case, the apex court has laid down certain guidelines to prevent the misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution, saying the majority enjoyed by the Council of Ministers shall be tested on the floor of the House.
Rawat said as per the Indian political tradition, dismissal of state governments has been termed as wrong.
The Chief Minister hoped that the Centre does not get any relief from the Supreme Court on the Uttarakhand issue.
"Whether the decision regarding Uttarakhand is right or wrong should be left to the people of the state. States should also ensure that there is no harm to the country," he said.
Rawat said he has given directions to officials to take steps to deal with water crisis in the state and take decisions on pending matters.
Rawat said, "We want the this issue be decided on merit. It should be decided soon because there has been political instability in our state for some time due to which development is being hampered. Overall, there is a serious crisis over the state's development."
The former Chief Minister recalled that there were some pressing issues that required immediate attention and included the smooth conduct of 'Char Dham yatra', addressing forest fires and an impending water crisis due to drying up water reserves.
"These are some challenges waiting to be addressed seriously and we do not want political uncertainty in the state to come come in the way of handling them, otherwise the state's reputation may be affected. We have seen what ill-effect the state has faced due to political instability," Rawat said.
He said since the state has suffered a lot due to the uncertainty prevailing in the last two months and many of government's schemes envisaged in the past have suffered.
"We have analysed the whole situation and our colleagues have felt that we have to work harder. The crucial one month loss due to which the state's development has suffered, we have to bring it back on track and the Chief Minister and Ministers have to work a lot harder. We have prepared an action plan for it, so that the state's development does not suffer further," he said.
Before passing a brief order, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh recorded an undertaking given by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi that the "Union of India shall not revoke the Presidential proclamation till the next date of hearing".
The apex court clarified that it was keeping in abeyance the judgement of the High Court till the next date of hearing on April 27 as a measure of balance for both the parties as the copy of the verdict was not made available to the parties.