Sandesh Prabhudesai
2 August 1998
It is the same constitutional provision, which had dethroned Dr Wilfred de Souza four years ago, that has now made him the chief minister of Goa state.
In April 1994, his government was dismissed using article 164 (1) of the constitution by then governor Bhanu Prakash Singh. Using the same section amidst controversy today, governor Lt Gen (retd) Jack Frederick Ralph Jacob has made him secure the highest post in the state government.
The provision simply states, that "... the ministers shall hold offices during the pleasure of the governor....". It is interpreted as the governor can dismiss the government, withdrawing his pleasure.
Governor Jacob has dismissed Pratapsing Rane's Congress government in Goa, withdrawing his pleasure under this section, and has installed de Souza's coalition government, consisting of the Congress' splinter group renamed as the Goa Rajiv Congress, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak party as well as the BJP.
But de Souza had cried injustice when, using the same provision in April 1994, the then Goa governor Singh had dismissed his government to reinstate Ravi Naik, who had to step down after the high court confirmed his disqualification. Both Singh and Naik had to lose their positions, facing ire of the Narasimha Rao's Congress government, while de Souza was reinstated in seven days.
But de Souza refuses to equate both the incidents. "There is a difference", he says, "as my government was dismissed despite having majority and without any valid reason, as per Singh's whims and fancies". Rane, on the other hand, had lost majority in the House while the situation in the Assembly had also reiterated. "What else the governor could do", he asks.
But challenging this contention, Rane has now moved to the high court. "The governor cannot dismiss the chief minister, using article 164 (1), since it applies to the ministers and not the chief minister, he argues.
To strengthen his case, the Congress leader has also cited the famous UP case, where the then governor Romesh Bhandari had dismissed the Kalyan Singh government, withdrawing his pleasure. The high court had struck down this order, while reinstating Singh in place of Jagdambika Pal.
On the similar grounds, the Congress has clamped down upon him also for allegedly interfering with the speaker's authority in the legislature. In sight thus appears to be a fierce constitutional battle between two supreme authorities -the governor and the speaker, among which presently hangs future of the de Souza government.
Goa, even in the past, has played a major role in rewriting the anti-defection act, which had then just come into force. The Rane government was toppled by a group of rebels led by the then speaker Dr Luis Proto Barbosa in 1990 to form a similar kind of short-lived coalition government along with the opposition.
Barbosa, who later became the chief minister, was disqualified by his minister Dr Kashinath Jalmi, who was appointed by the House to decide the case, stating that the speaker cannot be part of any split. The supreme court upheld the judgement, to make it a law today.
Now, it is probably the turn of the governor's office. Local Congress leaders claim that Jacob was sent by the BJP here only to dislodge the Congress government. Goa PCC president Shantaram Naik also points out to the fact that his predecessor T R Satishchandran was compelled to step down within a short span, after the BJP came to power in Delhi.
While demanding the governor's recall, the Congressmen have also criticised Jacob for compelling the speaker to change the Assembly's agenda by misusing his constitutional powers under section 175. They also allege that the governor had disrespected the constitution by disregarding the speaker's interim order, which he was competent enough to issue under article 191 (2) of the constitution.
The coalition partners in the new government, on the other hand, have charged that Rane has openly misused the speaker's office for his political survival. They have now moved yet another no confidence motion against the speaker, which may be passed if the government survives from these legal battles.
De Souza has already won one battle, with the high court quashing speaker Tomazinho Cardoz's ex-parte ad-interim order on the disqualification petitions pending before him, as per which he had restrained the breakaway group led by the former from entering the House, so that Rane could win the confidence vote.
The high court has passed strictures against the speaker, stating that he acted in haste and against the principles of natural justice. The judges also observed that the order was passed in view to prevent coming events and it had grave, immediate and irreversible repercussions, with reference to the confidence motion and financial business transacted on 28 July.
It is not known what impact the judgement had on Cardoz, but he has now reserved his judgement on the two disqualification petitions pending before him, though the hearing has been completed. While one petition seeks disqualification of all the ten rebels, the other one speaks of only five, since the Congress claimed that remaining five were expelled much before the split.
De Souza however does not see both the cases, before the speaker and the high court, a threat to his government. On the contrary, he feels that the high court order on speaker's interim order has strengthened his contention that the speaker had acted partisan.
He also seems fully confident of winning the confidence vote even if the speaker disqualifies five of them at last minute, without giving them chance to seek a stay on it from the court for voting purpose. He also feels that all ten cannot be disqualified since the speaker has already accepted that five among them are expelled from the Congress.
Whether the simple game of numbers would ultimately stabilise the new coalition or the legal battle would ultimately result into destabilising de Souza is however a matter of curiosity, not only for the political experts but even for the constitutional experts.
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