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Supreme Court approves of UP floor test

The Supreme Court put its seal of approval on the legitimacy of the composite floor test held yesterday in the Uttar Pradesh assembly in which Kalyan Singh won the confidence of the House over his rival Jagdambika Pal. And put an end to the controversy that has been dogging UP this last week.

The composite floor test was held following the court's direction on February 24, during the preliminary hearing of a special leave petition filed by Pal of the Loktantrik Congress. The SLP challenged the Allahabad high court's interim order restoring the BJP-led government in the state after its dismissal on February 21.

A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice M M Punchhi, Justice S C Agarwal and Justice K T Thomas heard Pal's SLP.

The judges also disposed off the writ petition pending before the high court challenging the dismissal of the Kalyan Singh government, declaring that pursuing it now would not be conducive. The court directed that all orders -- administrative, executive and judicial -- passed in this regard would stand submerged in the apex court.

The court which had been informed through a fax message about the holding of the composite floor test and its result, noted in its order that it was held in a peaceful and orderly manner as desired. Kalyan Singh polled 225 votes and 196 votes were cast in Jagdambika Pal's favour.

The speaker's conduct has been severely criticised at the bar for not deciding the status of the 12 Bahujan Samaj Party legislators. The speaker had concluded the hearing on this issue on February 25, but reserved his judgement.

"We reserve our comment on the issue in view of the margin between the two contenders. Even if the 12 disputed legislators are excluded, Kalyan Singh is still in a majority since these 12 votes could not go to Jagdambika Pal. In case the MLAs concerned had been disqualified, Kalyan Singh would still be in a majority," the judges observed.

The judges, therefore, felt there was no need to pursue this aspect of the case. "Kalyan Singh has already assumed office and the high court's interim order directing the restoration of his government is therefore made absolute subject to democratic discipline," they said.

The court said Kalyan Singh had rightly asked for an opportunity to prove his majority in the House, which was declined by the governor.

"In order to bring this controversy to an end, we facilitated both of them by directing a composite floor test. In these circumstances all administrative, executive and judicial orders, should in this regard stand submerged in this order," the judges observed.

UNI

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