Dispatch News.
Raipur. The Chhattisgarh High Court issued a notice to the Raj Bhavan in response to the state government petition against the stalling of reservation amendment bills since December 2, 2022, sparking a clash between chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and former chief minister Dr Raman Singh.
Dr Singh stated that if the High Court has capped the reservation at 56%, how will the 82% reservation be valid? The Chief Minister posted on Twitter, “56.. 56.. 56.. What is 56?” Dr Raman Singh, Jagat Spokesman! Here it is not about the self-proclaimed chest size of Modiji but about a reservation. Earlier reservations were at 58%, not 56%, and now a 76% reservation is proposed, not 82%. The Chief Minister wrote when the Assembly unanimously passed the new reservation bill. Was Raman Singh unaware of the 56% reservation? CM said the BJP has a “double standard” on the reservation.
The High Court has sent a notice to the Raj Bhavan; the reply should come from the Raj Bhavan. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ravindra Choubey stated that the bill passed by convening a special session of the Vidhan Sabha has been pending with the Governor for over two months for her signature.
The Chhattisgarh High Court has issued a notice to the Raj Bhawan secretariat seeking a reply within two weeks on a petition challenging the delay in the governor’s assent to the 76% reservation bill pending over the last two months.
Hearing a petition filed by Advocate Himank Saluja, the bench of Justice Rajni Dubey has issued the notice to the Governor’s Secretariat. The petitioner said the governor has no right to stall any bills passed by the state legislative assembly.
Appearing on behalf of the state government, senior advocate Kapil Sibal argued that the governor has no right to stop the bill passed by the state legislative Assembly. He said Article 200 of the Constitution of India empowers a governor to do three things: either sign the bill, send it back to the government, or send it to the President of India.
“But the Raj Bhawan has been ignoring these procedures for political mileage and stalling the bill in violation of the Constitution,” argued Sibal. State advocate general Satish Chandra Verma also appeared on behalf of the state government.
On December 2, 2022, the Chhattisgarh government passed two amendment bills related to the reservation in government jobs and educational institutions, increasing the quota to 76%, with ST reservation at 32%, OBC reservation at 27%, SC reservation at 13%, and EWS reservation for the general category at 4%.
The state government immediately sent the bill to the governor after the assembly unanimously passed it on December 2, 2022. However, Governor Anusuiya Uikey refused to grant her assent to the bills but sent a letter asking ten questions, including details of the quantifiable data on SC/ST communities and whether, if collected by the state government, any study or extraordinary situation forced the state government to raise the reservation beyond 50%.
Meanwhile, Raj Bhavan has reacted to the notice, saying that courts cannot issue notices to the governor and President.
