Claiming that the Supreme Court has not indicted it in the Bihar Assembly dissolution case, the central government has said that it has never 'verified' a Governor's report while imposing President's rule in a state.
"In the past we have never verified the authenticity of a Governor's report," Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Karan Thapar during an interview on CNN-IBN.
He was asked about the Bihar case, which had led to the resignation of Buta Singh following his indictment by the Apex Court.
"The Union council of ministers, while imposing President's rule under Article 356 of the Constitution, which has happened more than 100 times since 1950, has most of the time depended on the Governor's report," he said.
To repeated queries on the Centre's role in the Bihar dissolution issue, Mukherjee said the Constitution makes it clear that President's rule can be clamped either on the basis of the Governor's report or 'otherwise'.
Asserting there was no indictment of the Centre in the Bihar case, Mukherjee said he would not comment on the judgement of the Supreme Court.
On the comments by noted Constitutional expert Fali Nariman that the precipitate action lay at the door of the council of ministers with the prime minister at its head, he said it was not necessary to agree with Nariman's remarks.
