Raipur: The Chhattisgarh High Court on Friday stayed its order delivered on February 6 in which a notice was sent to the Governor’s office for a reply over the alleged delay in giving consent to reservation bills. The Chhattisgarh Governor’s office had written a letter stating Governor Anusuiya Uikey had expressed ‘grave displeasure’ against the State government and Advocate General over the writ petition filed against the Governor’s secretariat on pending reservation bills.
After hearing the arguments on an application moved by Raj Bhavan counsel B Gopakumar, the bench of Justice Rajani Dubey reserved the verdict. The court has fixed February 24 as the next date for the hearing. The State government had filed a petition in the High Court for stopping the reservation bill in the Raj Bhavan, on which the court issued a notice to the Governor's Secretariat and summoned the reply.
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Challenging the notice of the High Court, the Governor's Secretariat has said "the President or the Governor cannot be made a party in any case under Article 361". It has been said in the petition that "after the bill is passed in the Legislative Assembly, the Governor can only give assent or dissent." Without any reason, the bill cannot be stopped for a long time like this. The Governor is misusing constitutional rights. Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Governor’s office moved an application in the High Court demanding to recall the notice served on the Governor’s Secretariat on February 6.
The Chhattisgarh government passed two amendment bills related to the reservation in government jobs and educational institutions, raising the quota to 76%, including ST reservation 32%, OBC reservation 27%, SC reservation 13%, and four per cent has been provisioned for the economically weaker sections (EWS).
