Full text of SC order demanding a floor test in Karnataka Assembly

The Supreme Court today ordered a floor test in the Karnataka Assembly at 4 PM tomorrow, drastically slashing the 15-day window given by the Governor to BJP Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to prove majority.
 

"Let the House decide and the best course would be floor test," a three-judge bench headed by Justice A K Sikri said.

The bench, also comprising Justices S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan, turned down Yeddyurappa's request for a secret ballot during the floor test.

It directed the Karnataka government and the Governor not to nominate any MLA from the Anglo-Indian community to participate in the floor test tomorrow.

The bench asked the newly elected government not to take any major policy decision till it proves majority in the House.
The apex court made it clear that it would deal with the constitutionality of the Governor's letter inviting Yeddyurappa to form the government later.

The top court said the Pro tem speaker will take decisions in accordance with the law on the issue of floor test and ordered the authorities, including the Director General of Police, to ensure law and order outside the Karnataka Assembly.

The bench said ultimately the question is about majority which has to be proved in the floor test.

The BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, followed by the Congress with 78, JD(S) with 37 and three seats have gone to others in the 224-member Assembly where elections were held for 222 seats.

The majority mark is 112 seats and the post-poll alliance strength of the Congress-JD(S) combine, which claims to have 117 MLAs, has alleged foul play in the Governor inviting BJP to form the government.

ITEM NO.301 COURT NO.6 SECTION X

 S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A

 RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 536/2018

DR. G. PARMESHWARA & ANR. Petitioner(s)

 VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA

THROUGH ITS SECRETARY & ORS. Respondent(s)

WITH

I.A. No. 75881 of 2018

Application for direction.

Date : 18-05-2018 This petition was called on for hearing today.

CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.K. SIKRI

 HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.A. BOBDE

 HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ASHOK BHUSHAN

For Petitioner(s) Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Kapil Sibal, SR. Adv.

Mr. Anup Chaudhary, Sr. Adv.

Mr. V. Lakmshminarayan, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Ashok Bhan, Sr. Adv.

Mr. N.K. Mody, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Devadatt Kamat, Adv.

Mr. Prashant Kumar, Adv.

Mr. Amit Bhandhari, Adv.

Mr. Varun K. Chopra, Adv.

Mr. Nizam Pasha, Adv.

Mr. Javedur Rahman, Adv.

Mr. Aditya Bhat, Adv.

Mr. Rajesh Inamdar, Adv.

Mr. Harndar Neel, Adv.

Mr. Santosh Sharma, Adv.

Ms. Siddhi Padia, Adv.

Mr. Sumeeta Choudhari, Adv.

Ms. R.H.A. Sikander, Adv.

Ms. Dipali Dwivedi, Adv.

Mr. Siddharth K., Adv.

Mr. L. Nidhiram Sharma, Adv.

 Mr. Gautam Talukdar, AOR

Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv.

Mr. V. Laxmshminarayan, Sr. Adv

2

Mr. A.P. Ranganatha, Adv.

Mr. K. Diwakar, Adv.

Mr. R. Srinivasa Gowda, Adv.

Mr. L. Srinivas Babu, Adv.

Mr. D.K. Garg, Adv.

Mr. P. Chidambaram, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR

Mr. Ashish Khetan, Adv.

Ms. Nupur Kumar, Adv.

Ms. Anju Thomas, Adv.

For Respondent(s) Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Sr. Adv.

Mr. S. Padhi, Adv.

Mr. Kush Chaturvedi, Adv.

Mr. Sandip Patil, Adv.

Mr. Kavin Prabhu, Adv.

Mr. Somay Kapoor, Adv.

Mr. Devanshi Singh, Adv.

Mr. Nikhil Rohatgi, Adv

Mr. Shashank Khurana, Adv.

Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR

Mr. Samten Doma, Adv.

Ms. Priyashree, Adv.

Mr. Ashish Yadav, Adv.

Ms. Nisha Rohtagi, Adv.

Ms. Devyansha, Adv.

Mr. Vivek Reddy, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Adv.

Mr. Nishanth Patil, AOR

Mr. Sandeep Patil, Adv.

Mr. Sudhanshu Prakash, Adv.

Mr. Nishanth Patil, Adv.

Mr. Arun Shyam, Adv.

Mr. K.K. Venugopal, AG

Mr. Maninder Singh, ASG

Col. R. Balasubramanian, Adv.

Ms. Shraddha Deshmukh, Adv.

Mr. Nalin Kohli, Adv.

Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv.

Mr. Prabhas Bajaj, Adv.

Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, Adv.

Ms. Kanika Saran, Adv.

Ms. Aarti Sharma, Adv.

 Mr. B. V. Balaram Das, AOR

Mr. Tushar Mehta, ASG

Mr. Santosh N., Adv.

3

 Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR

Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv.

Ms. Napur Sharma, Adv.

Mr. Mohit Jhamb, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R In compliance with the order dated 17.05.2018 passed by this Court, Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, senior advocate who is appearing for respondent no.3, has produced the copies of letters dated 15.05.2018 and 16.05.2018 which were addressed by Mr. B.S. Yeddyurappa, State BJP President to the Governor of Karnataka.

In the letter dated 16.05.2018 it is claimed that his party is the single largest party and has also the support of others and requisite majority. On that basis, the request was made to the Governor to invite him to form the Government. Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, learned senior counsel who is appearing for petitioner no.1 and Mr. Kapil Sibal, learned senior counsel who is appearing for petitioner no.2 contend that the Governor could not have invited respondent no.3 to form the Government on the basis of such letters and have made brief submissions in this behalf.

 These are refuted by Mr. Rohatgi. In a matter like this, detailed hearing is required in order to decide as to whether action of the Governor in inviting respondent no.3 to form the Government was valid in law or not. Since it may consume substantial time and the final decision cannot be given immediately, we deem it proper that Floor Test to ascertain the majority of one or the other group is conducted immediately and without any delay.

Though the Governor in his letter dated 4 16.05.2018 inviting respondent no.3 to form the Government has given him 15 days' time for proving the majority on the floor of the House, having regard to all the circumstances of this case, we are of the view that such a Floor Test be conducted tomorrow itself i.e. on 19.05.2018.

Since the elected Members of Legislative Assembly are yet to take oath as specified in Schedule III of the Constitution and the Speaker is also yet to be elected, we are of the view that the following procedure be followed for conducting the Floor Test:

A). Pro-tem Speaker shall be appointed for the aforesaid purpose immediately.

 B). All the elected members shall take oath tomorrow(19.05.2018) and this exercise shall be completed before 04.00 p.m.

C) The Pro-tem Speaker shall conduct the Floor Test on 19.05.2018 at 04.00 P.M. in order to ascertain the majority.

D) Adequate and sufficient security arrangements shall be made and Director General of Police, State of Karnataka will himself supervise the said arrangements so that there is no lapse on this count whatsoever.

Since the Floor Test is going to be held tomorrow i.e. 19.05.2018 at 04.00 p.m., Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, learned senior counsel appearing for the Chief Minister makes a statement at Bar that respondent no. 3 shall not take any policy decision till the Floor Test is conducted. Six weeks' time is granted to the learned counsel for the respondents to file counter affidavit. 5 Rejoinder affidavit, if any, be filed within four weeks thereafter.

The matter shall be listed for directions after ten weeks. I.A. No. 75881 of 2018 The petitioners have moved this application in which prayer is made to the effect that respondent no. 3 be restrained from nominating and/or recommending any member of the Anglo-Indian Community under Article 333 of the Constitution pending the floor test of respondent no.3. Mr. Tushar Mehta, learned ASG who appears for the State Government makes a statement at Bar that there is no such move to nominate any such member till the Floor Test is cleared.

The interlocutory application is disposed of accordingly.

 (ASHWANI THAKUR) (MALA KUMARI SHARMA) COURT MASTER (SH) COURT MASTER