Full Text: Supreme Court rules in favour of BJP's BS Yeddyurappa, says final hearing after perusing letter given to Karnataka governor

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stay BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa’s swearing-in as Karnataka Chief Minister after a rare pre-dawn hearing which saw the Congress-JD (S) combine making a last-ditch attempt to stall the saffron party’s surge in the southern state. The apex court, which commenced the hearing at 2.11 AM and ended at 5.28 AM, however made it clear that the swearing-in and the government formation in the state would be subject to the final outcome of the case before it. [caption id=“attachment_4472743” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of newly-sworn-in Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yeddyurappa. PTI[/caption] A special bench comprising Justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan directed the Centre to place before it two communications, sent by Yeddyurappa to Governor Vajubhai Vala in which he had staked claim to form the government, saying their perusal was necessary to decide the case. The top court also issued notices to Karnataka government and Yeddyurappa seeking their replies on the plea filed by Congress-JD (S) combine and posted the matter for hearing tomorrow. “This Court is not passing any order staying the oath taking ceremony of B S Yeddyurappa. In case, he is given oath in the meantime, that shall be subject to further orders of this court and final outcome of the writ petition,” the bench said. While senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Congress-JD (S) combine, persisted with his arguments that the swearing-in ceremony should be stayed or deferred, the bench said, “we are not staying the oath taking ceremony”. Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing three BJP MLAs Govind M Karjol, C M Udasi and Basavaraj Bommai, opposed the arguments to defer or stay the swearing-in ceremony, which was scheduled on Wednesday for Thursday morning. Read the full text of Supreme Court’s ruling here 1 ITEM NO.301 COURT NO.6 SECTION X   S_upreme Court of India_  Record of Proceedings WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) Diary No.19482/2018 DR. G. PARMESHWARA & ANR. Petitioner(s) VERSUS UNION OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS Respondent(s) Date : 17-05-2018 This petition was called on for hearing today at 2.00 A.M. CORAM : HON’BLE MR. HON’BLE MR. HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE JUSTICE JUSTICE A.K. SIKRI S.A. BOBDE ASHOK BHUSHAN For Petitioner(s) Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv; Mr. A.G. Chaudhari, Sr. Adv; Mr. Prashant Kumar, Adv; Mr. Devadatt Kamat, Adv; Dr. Saif Mehmood, Adv; Mr. Amit Bhandari, Adv; Mr. L. Nidhiram S., Adv; Mr. Javedur Rahman, Adv; Mr. Rajesh Inamdar, Adv; Mr. Aditya Bhat, Adv; Mr. Gautam Talukdar, AOR Mr. Harendar Neel, Adv; Mr. Varun K. Chopra, Adv; Ms. Sumeeta Choudhari, Adv; Mr. R.H.A. Sikander, Adv. For Respondent(s):  Mr. K.K. Venugopal, AG; Mr. Maninder Singh, ASG; Mr. Tushar Mehta, ASG; Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv; Mr. Prabhas Bajaj, Adv; Kanu Agrawal, Adv; Mr. Manan Popli, Adv; Mr. Mohit Jhamb, Adv; Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Sr. Adv; Ms. Devanshi Singh, Adv; Mr. Nikhil Rohatgi, Adv 2 UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R The petitioners have filed this petition challenging the validity of Communication No.GS 41 GOB 2018 dated 16th May, 2018, addressed by the Governor of Karnataka to Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa (respondent No.3 herein) inviting him to form the government and be sworn in as the Chief Minister of the State of Karnataka. This Bench was specially convened at odd hours to hear the matter as, on the basis of the said letter, respondent No.3 has decided to take oath at 9.30 a.m. on 17th May, 2018. We have heard Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioners. On behalf of the Union of India, Mr. K.K. Venugopal, learned Attorney General has appeared, Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, learned senior counsel, has also made submissions, though he has stated that he has instructions from three M.L.As, viz. Mr. Govind M. Karjol, C.M. Udasi and Mr. Basavaraj Bommai, of the B.J.P. party to represent. The petitioners have impleaded three respondents. Respondent No.1 is the Union of India, and as mentioned above learned Attorney General has appeared on its behalf. Since respondent Nos.2 and 3 are not represented, we issue formal notice to them. In addition, respondent No.2 shall be served through the Standing Counsel for the State. After hearing the parties, we are of the opinion that it is necessary to peruse the letters dated 15th May, 2018 and 16th May, 2018 submitted by the respondent No.3 to the Governor which find a mention in the communication dated 16th May, 2018 of the Hon’ble Governor. We request the learned Attorney General and/or respondent No.3 to produce these letters on the next date of hearing. 3 This Court is not passing any order staying the oath taking ceremony of respondent No.3. In case, he is given oath in the meantime, that shall be subject to further orders of this Court and final outcome of the writ petition. List the matter for further hearing at 10.30 a.m. on 18th May, 2018. The respondents may file their response in the meantime. (Chetan Kumar) Court Master (Sanjay Kumar - II) Court Master