Former Law Ministers in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government Kapil Sibal, Ashwani Kumar and Salman Khurshid on Monday wrote a joint letter to Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra to remind him of his oath of office and asserted that his refusal to follow the State government’s advice of holding an Assembly session would result in a “Constitutional crisis”.
At a press conference, former Union Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram accused Governors “appointed by the BJP since 2014 of repeatedly violating the letter and spirit of the Constitution” and appealed to the President of India to intervene and instruct Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra to hold a session.
Asked about rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot, whom he had tried to placate, Mr. Chidamabaram said, “To me, he seems to be in a tight embrace of the BJP”.
He cited three landmark judgements of the Supreme Court when “the Governors concerned had acted in gross violation of the Constitution in Arunachal Pradesh (2016), Uttarakhand (2016) and Karnataka (2019) and the Supreme Court settled the matter”.
Mr. Chidamabaram said, “It is settled law that the Governor shall act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. The Governor has no discretion. The fundamental basis of a parliamentary democracy is a functioning legislature. If the executive government wants the legislature to meet, it has the absolute right and authority to call a session. The Governor is only a formal instrument to sign and issue the summons to the MLAs. He [the Governor] must remember that he has no other masters except the Constitution and the law”.
Asked if the President of India need to consult the Central government before intervening on the matter, he said, “As far as I can see, the President can advice the Home Ministry to instruct the Governor... He can also pick up the phone and tell the Governor that the law is very clear, please call the session”.
On a day when the Congress protested outside Raj Bhavans across the country on the alleged partisan attitude of Governors, the former UPA Law Ministers said in their letter, “As holder of high public office you are well aware that the Constitutional functionaries are charged by their oath of office to vindicate the Constitution in letter and spirit. This obliges the Governor, in accordance with the established parliamentary and constitutional democracy, to defer to the wishes of an elected government that expresses the will of the people in an parliamentary democracy”.
The letter said:
“Indeed, the office of the Governor envisaged in our Constitutional scheme is above and beyond the constraints and compulsions of partisan politics so that its holder can act freely and fairly to uphold the Constitution.
“Having served as Union Ministers for Law and Justice at different periods of time and as students of constitutional law, we are of the clear view that the established legal position obliges the Governor to call the Assembly session in accordance with the advice of the State Cabinet. Any deviation from the established constitutional position will be an avoidable negation of your oath of office and create a constitutional crisis”.
Mr. Kumar told The Hindu, “The Congress will politically resist all attempts to subvert the Constitution, destabilise a duly-elected government and undermine democracy.The matter is now in the people’s court”.
