KOHIMA, JULY 18 (MExN): The Kohima Bench of the Gauhati High Court has dismissed the Nagaland State Chief Minister, Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu’s petition against the Nagaland State Governor’s directive for a floor test in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly.
In the case between the Nagaland CM as petitioner and the NLA and former CM, TR Zeliang as respondents, the court, after hearing arguments from the concerned counsels, ruled on Tuesday that “in the facts and circumstances of what has been discussed hereinabove, there is no merit in the writ petition and the same is accordingly dismissed.” As such the interim order passed on July 14, 2017 staying the Governor’s letter “stands vacated.” In its order, the Kohima Bench of the Gauhati High Court viewed that the Governor had “taken the right decision to ask the petitioner to have a vote of confidence in the floor of the House to see which out of the two contesting claimants of Chief Ministership has a majority in the House.”
“In that view of the matter, this Court does not see any reasons to interfere with the letter dated 13-07-2017,” it added. The court also considered the contention of the senior counsel for the petitioner that there has been violation of Rule 3 of the Conduct of Business. Regarding this, it opined that “such contention at this stage is pre-mature and therefore, not tenable.”
Further, the contention of the senior counsel for the petitioner that sufficient time should be given to the petitioner to obtain the vote of confidence on the floor of the House after the bye-election to be held on 29-07-2017 is rejected, the order said.
However, it was added that the matter is left to the wisdom of the Governor to take a decision on the same after proper application of mind.
