Oh dear, we have done it again. We are in the news for all the wrong reasons and the next few weeks we could be making history: We shall be in the front pages of all local and national media.
I am reminded of a troll in the social media where a local youth from a certain Naga community whatsapped his contacts and asked them if they have seen the local papers. The fellow expressed his anguish that his picture which came out in the papers was not up to his expectation and went on and on to curse the photographer. When his friends checked up the papers, they found out that their friend’s picture had appeared in a story in connection with his arrest the previous day for vehicle lifting!
Now that the Court has dismissed the writ petition filed by the Chief Minister, ironically, both camps are celebrating: One group says that their party has won since the floor test notified by the Governor to be held on or before July 15 was avoided the other group says the law is on their side and that swearing in of the new Chief Minister is imminent.
Now, all eyes are on the offices of the Speaker and the Governor.
The Supreme Court had, in its ruling on Kihoto Hollohon Vs Zachilhu (1992) ,noted that “The office of the Speaker is held in the highest respect and esteem in Parliamentary traditions. The evolution of the institution of Parliamentary democracy has as its pivot the institution of the Speaker. He is said to be the very embodiment of propriety and impartiality. He performs wide ranging functions including the performance of important functions of a judicial character. It would, indeed be unfair to the high traditions of that great office to say that the investiture in it of this jurisdiction would be vitiated for violation of a basic feature of democracy. It is inappropriate to express distrust in the high office of the speaker, merely because some of the speakers are alleged, or even found, to have discharged their functions not in keeping with the great traditions of that high office. The Robes of the Speaker do change and elevate the man inside.”
In the coming days, the focus of attention will be on Nagaland Speaker, and also the office of the Governor for that matter, because now they will play major roles in determining the outcome in the ongoing political crisis in Nagaland. No doubt, the Offices of the Governor and the Speaker are a-political, but throughout the years, we have seen that the Robes of these respected offices did not change the political persons who occupied these offices.
In 1990, after a few months of the Assembly elections in Goa, Congress Speaker Luis Proto Barbosa himself defected to form the Goan People’s Party (GPP) and became the Chief Minister after aligning with another regional party, the MGP. His defection necessitated the appointment of a member, Kashinath G Jhalmi of the MGP, as Speaker under Para 6 (1) of the Anti-defection Act relating to defection of a Speaker. Jhalmi took over nine months to give his decision on the disqualification petition filed by the Congress against Barbosa, which coincided with the life of the Barbosa Government: He gave his verdict after his party, the MGP, the coalition partner of the GPP, decided to part ways with Barbosa.
And during the nine and half months of the GPP-MGP honeymoon, the Speaker, Jhalmi himself, was the Law Minister in the Barbosa Cabinet.
In 1995, Congress member Tomazhinho Cardozo became the Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly in a strange and peculiar manner. Voting was in secret ballot and the Legislature staff counted 20 votes for Surendra Sirsat and 19 votes for Cardozo, with one vote declared invalid. After some manipulation by pro-tem Speaker Zuwarkar, another Congress member, he declared one vote for Sirsat invalid and announced a tie. Thereafter, fresh elections were called, this time involving a show of hands. Cardozo was declared elected through a voice vote where the Opposition did not participate!
Cardozo proved himself to be a man of action. During his term, Pratapsingh Rane filed a petition against Wilfred D’Souza and four others on July 27, 1998. Our man of action was also in a hurry because he gave his interim order, ex parte, the next day disqualifying the defectors, and his final order on July 28, within 48 hours! The simple principle of natural justice of giving to those charge reasonable opportunity to be heard before a judgment was violated in haste.
If that is partisanship on the part of the Speaker, what would you say about Speaker Haroon Sheik Hassan who took more than two and half years, from January 4, 1992 till September 15, 1994, to dismiss a petition?
Cabo Raj, as the Raj Bhawan at Dona Paula is fondly called by the elder citizens of the State, has also had its fair share of intrigue and gross improprieties. In 1994, Governor Bhanu Prakash Singh dismissed Wilfred D’Souza as Chief Minister and swore in Ravi Naik even though the former had neither lost the support of the party nor the majority in the Assembly. The Governor’s action, of course, was considered as a grave impropriety and he was recalled. Naik remained Chief Minister for two whole days after which D’Souza returned.
Coming back home, Nagaland also witnessed something of this sort took place in 2007 when a No-confidence Motion was moved against Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and was admitted to be taken up on December 13. In the afternoon session that fateful day, at no point of time did the Speaker make any announcement as to disqualification order passed against any Member of the House. So also, no bulletin was issued by the Speaker as required under the Disqualification Rules. When the motion of No-Confidence was taken up, 31 Members stood in favour of the No-Confidence Motion and 23 opposed the Motion. It was apparent that the ruling Government had lost its numbers and was reduced to minority.
The Opposition rushed with 31 MLAs contesting the claim of the Speaker and of the Government, clearly showing that 31 MLAs were together with them. In the meanwhile, the Speaker continued with the Business of the House and declared the Motion defeated with an explanation that 3 Independent MLAs were barred from voting and the votes of 9 NPF MLAs who voted in favour of the No-Confidence Motion were not counted, thus declaring 23 against the Motion and 19 in favour of the Motion of No-Confidence;
Report was sent to the Governor claiming that the Government had managed to defeat the No-Confidence Motion.
But the then Governor, Mr Shakaranarayan, a “former” staunch Congressman, was convinced that the Speaker manipulated the affairs of the Assembly to support the ruling dispensation, withdrew his pleasure from the then Government and recommended President’s Rule.
Reminiscent of how Governor Jamir overruled the Speaker’s manipulation of the proceedings of February 3, 2005, Goa Assembly Vote of Confidence moved by Chief Minister Mannohar Parrikar:
After the break on that fateful day, in a manner of speaking, all hell broke loose! When the House re-assembled at about 5 pm, the Speaker asked the Independent MLA Rodrigues to withdraw from the House for “misconduct”. The proceedings of the House were captured by cameras from various TV Channels and the pictures clearly showed the Independent member sitting quietly all through the day. But since the Independent member’s vote against the Chief Minister’s Motion would have proved disastrous to the incumbent Government, the Speaker considered the member’s quiet behavior to be disorderly! Anyway, pandemonium started when the Opposition members protested and the Speaker called in the Marshall to remove the Independent member physically from the House. The Opposition members surrounded him and prevented the Marshall from removing the member. The Speaker then called in a posse of policemen who then removed him forcibly. In the ruckus that followed, the Honourable Speaker put the motion to vote and declared that it was carried out 16 against 6, in favour of the Government! Video recordings showed the Speaker leaning towards the Chief Minister who was heard to have given the number 18 repeatedly. It was therefore, not the verdict of the Speaker, but the verdict of the Chief Minister in favour of his own Government!
Governor Jamir dismissed Parrikar Government and around 11 pm the same day, installed a Congress Government, which earned the dubious tag in the local media as the Midnight Government!
In the aftermath of the Court verdict to dismiss the petition of the Chief Minister, a floor test is unavoidable. The Governor simply cannot dismiss the Government without letting the matter be decided on the floor of the House as amply made clear by the Supreme Court in the case of SR Bommai. At the time of going to the press, it is learned that the Governor has called for a floor test tomorrow, July 19. Going by convention, the ruling dispensation would issue a party whip which would be binding on all NPF legislators.
In 2015, the present Governor gave the TR Group more than 20 days to conduct the Vote of Confidence. But this time round, the haste with which he has called for the floor test clearly shows his urgency to affect a change.
Once, when Benjamin Disraeli was brought to task for contempt of the House after he used some unsavoury words describing the ruling members, he came up with this unforgettable statement: “Mr Speaker, I withdraw my statement that half of the cabinet are asses – half of the cabinet are not asses.”
