EC gets Nice rap from SC

EC gets Nice rap from SC
BENGALURU


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The Supreme Court while hearing a petition on Wednesday rapped the Election Commission of India for being pro-active and stalling an important infrastructure project pertaining to Karnataka.

The Supreme Court observed that intervening in ongoing projects that are being implemented in public interest during elections was unwarranted.

The court was hearing a petition filed in May by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise challenging the EC’s directive to withdraw a Government Order for expediting the controversial Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project.

On April 30, the state had issued a GO to expedite the project which was struck down by the EC. The Supreme Court while hearing a petition on Wednesday rapped the Election Commission of India for being pro-active and stalling an important infrastructure project pertaining to Karnataka.

The apex court observed that intervening in ongoing projects that are being implemented in public interest during elections was unwarranted.

The court was hearing a petition filed in May by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise challenging the EC’s directive to withdraw Government Order (GO) for expediting the controversial Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project.

On April 30th, the state government had issued a GO to expedite the project which was struck down by the EC.

The SC made a strong observation stating that the EC had no business to tell the governor to withdraw an order.

Instead, it should have asked the Karnataka Government to defer the implementation of the decision.

NICE in its petition contested that the GO, which was issued by Governor Ramerhwar Thakur during the President’s Rule was in concurrence with the Supreme Court order, and that 95 percent of the Phase I of the project was already com pleted. The state was already facing contempt charges in the Supreme Court and seven senior officials were in the dock for stalling the project. So the governor acting on the SC directive had issued a GO to implement the project. Subsequently, the EC had observed that this was in violation of the code of conduct and issued an order to cancel the GO on May 8, 2008.

Bowing to the EC directive, the government withdrew its earlier order. This prompted NICE to knock on the doors of the Supreme Court.

With the Supreme Court’s observation the Governor’s GO has now been upheld.