Governor can't summon Assembly session at his whims, says Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said Arunachal Pradesh Governor J.P. Rajkhowa cannot summon “at his whims” the state Assembly session after he decided to advance it by nearly a month to test the majority of the crisis-hit Congress-led Nabam Tuki government.

“The Governor cannot summon the assembly session at his whims. The occasion has not arisen here (in Arunachal Pradesh) as we have been saying from the beginning. Here the situation was not so,” a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice J.S. Khehar observed. Arunachal Pra-desh is currently under President’s rule.

The court also said there was nothing wrong if a no-confidence motion is passed against the Tuki government, which faced a rebellion, in the state assembly when the Deputy Speaker was in charge of the House proceedings after removal of the Speaker.

The court made the observations when during the hearing senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for some rebel Congress MLAs, reiterated his stand that the Governor was not barred from summoning the assembly session on his own, without the aid and advice of the Chief Minister and his council of ministers.

“The only precondition is that there has to be some business to be transacted by the House and the Governor is not barred,” he said.