05-19-2004, 10:59 PM
HC to hear PIL against Sonia as PM on May 26
The Delhi High Court has posted the hearing on an interim application seeking to restrain Congress President Sonia Gandhi from taking over as the country's Prime Minister a week from now.
The plea by Rashtriya Mukti Morcha (RMM), challenging the validity of foreign-born citizens from taking over top posts, will be heard by the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice B D Ahmad on May 26.
The application was taken up by the Bench after senior advocate P N Lekhi, appearing for RMM, said the petition will be rendered infructous if not heard before the swearing-in ceremony supposed to take place on Wednesday. The Bench said, if the court found merit in the application, appropriate remedies could be granted even after Ms Gandhi took over the post.
In the petition before the High Court, the RMM had submitted that in many countries, high constitutional posts were reserved for natural-born citizens and sought interpretation of Article 5 of the Constitution. The counsel has pointed to several documents, including constituent Assembly debates and written constitutions of various countries on citizenship, to prove his claims.
The petition was filed after former President K R Narayanan had invited Congress President Sonia Gandhi to form a government in April 1999. The High Court had even sought a reply from the NDA Government on the petition challenging the constitutional validity of the move as Ms Gandhi was not a natural-born citizen.
The affidavit filed by the Centre submitted that the Constitutions of various countries made a distinction between natural-born citizens and other types of citizens, and the Indian Constitution did not make any such distinction which shows a conscious effort on part of the framers not to make a distinction between citizens.
Earlier, the High Court preponed the hearing on the case from July 20 to May 26. But Mr Lekhi wanted an earlier hearing in the likelihood of Ms Gandhi taking over as the Prime Minister by then. Mr Lekhi said by the next date of hearing they would implead on making both the Congress and Ms Gandhi parties in the case. In view of the move by the party to elect her as its president, he would also seek derecognition of the party.
The RMM had filed a similar petition in the SC on Ms Gandhi's citizenship while its petition in the High Court questioned the right to be called to form a government on the ground that only natural-born citizens of the country could occupy high offices, Mr Lekhi said. It was a question of interpreting the original intent of the framers of the Constitution, he added.
The petition alleged that as per convention, after the BJP was ousted by a no-confidence motion, Mr Sharad Pawar, who was the then Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House, not Ms Gandhi, should have been invited by the President.
The Delhi High Court has posted the hearing on an interim application seeking to restrain Congress President Sonia Gandhi from taking over as the country's Prime Minister a week from now.
The plea by Rashtriya Mukti Morcha (RMM), challenging the validity of foreign-born citizens from taking over top posts, will be heard by the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice B D Ahmad on May 26.
The application was taken up by the Bench after senior advocate P N Lekhi, appearing for RMM, said the petition will be rendered infructous if not heard before the swearing-in ceremony supposed to take place on Wednesday. The Bench said, if the court found merit in the application, appropriate remedies could be granted even after Ms Gandhi took over the post.
In the petition before the High Court, the RMM had submitted that in many countries, high constitutional posts were reserved for natural-born citizens and sought interpretation of Article 5 of the Constitution. The counsel has pointed to several documents, including constituent Assembly debates and written constitutions of various countries on citizenship, to prove his claims.
The petition was filed after former President K R Narayanan had invited Congress President Sonia Gandhi to form a government in April 1999. The High Court had even sought a reply from the NDA Government on the petition challenging the constitutional validity of the move as Ms Gandhi was not a natural-born citizen.
The affidavit filed by the Centre submitted that the Constitutions of various countries made a distinction between natural-born citizens and other types of citizens, and the Indian Constitution did not make any such distinction which shows a conscious effort on part of the framers not to make a distinction between citizens.
Earlier, the High Court preponed the hearing on the case from July 20 to May 26. But Mr Lekhi wanted an earlier hearing in the likelihood of Ms Gandhi taking over as the Prime Minister by then. Mr Lekhi said by the next date of hearing they would implead on making both the Congress and Ms Gandhi parties in the case. In view of the move by the party to elect her as its president, he would also seek derecognition of the party.
The RMM had filed a similar petition in the SC on Ms Gandhi's citizenship while its petition in the High Court questioned the right to be called to form a government on the ground that only natural-born citizens of the country could occupy high offices, Mr Lekhi said. It was a question of interpreting the original intent of the framers of the Constitution, he added.
The petition alleged that as per convention, after the BJP was ousted by a no-confidence motion, Mr Sharad Pawar, who was the then Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House, not Ms Gandhi, should have been invited by the President.