SC notice to ‘unelected’ Jharkhand CM Munda
11 Jan 2011
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda on a petition seeking the revocation of his appointment as he is not a member of the state legislative assembly, as required under the Constitution.
The apex court also issued a notice to former chief minister and now Jharkhand governor Shibu Soren, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supreme. He has held the chief minister's post thrice without being elected to the Assembly within six months.
A Bench comprising Justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph also sought a response from the governor through his secretary on the alleged misuse of the special provision under Article 164 (4) of the Constitution. The article says an unelected person can become the chief minister provided that he/she gets elected to the Assembly within six months.
The petition filed by a Delhi-based RTI activist Deb Ashish Bhattacharya through advocate Amit Pavan alleged Soren took advantage of the constitutional provision thrice, while Munda was using it for the second time.
He has sought a direction for the governor to restrain Munda from functioning as a full-fledged chief minister and taking cabinet decisions on policy matters.
Munda was appointed as the chief minister on 11 September 2010, after the BJP and the JMM struck a power-sharing deal in the politically unstable state that has seen eight governments and two spells of president's rule since its inception on 15 November 2000.
Describing Article 164(4) as an exception to enable a leader of the majority party to serve as the CM and contest any assembly seat so as to fulfil the expectations of the electorate, the petitioner contended that it could not be used as a rule.
Recourse to Article 164 (4) for appointment of a non-legislator minister in Jharkhand has been made a number of times, not to bring about a representative and responsible government but to subserve malafide and selfish political aspirations and to keep political power in the hold of a few chosen political parties, the petitioner stated.
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