Law, Lawyers, Judiciary

[Capt M Kumar]

Making sense of these words, Rao said, “There can be a defence by the Governor that he acted in his discretion which is provided under Article 163. But the words given in Article 192(2) take away this discretion by substituting it with the opinion of the EC, which the Governor is bound to accept.”



The opinion is supported by senior advocate and noted jurist Rajiv Dhavan. He said, “On a bare reading of the Constitution, the Governor is simply to refer to the Election Commission and although his decision is final, he is bound by the view of the Election Commission.”



Commenting on the case at hand, Dhavan added, “Under Article 192(2), there is no real scope for a preliminary opinion. It amounts to sequentially inventing a hearing where there is none.”



As things stand, it was on June 3 that Bhardwaj had referred to the Commission a complaint filed by Congress MLC MC Kondaiah seeking disqualification of the Reddy brothers — G Janardhana Reddy and G Karunakar Reddy, holding Tourism and Revenue portfolios respectively in the Karnataka Government — and their associate B Sreeramulu, the Health Minister.



The disqualification was sought on the ground of conflict of interests. The MLC alleged that as members in the State Government they could swing the Government contracts in favour of their private mining business. The complaint was filed in January this year following which a detailed hearing was conducted by the Governor. He, subsequently, referred it to the Commission. http://www.dailypioneer.com/260800/Did-K...e-gun.html