Uttarakhand Guv's plea against resignation: SC sends notice to Modi govt

The Supreme Court today sent a notice to the Centre on Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi’s plea questioning Narendra Modi government’s direction for him to quit the post. According to PTI, the Supreme Court has directed the Centre to file its response within six weeks and has Qureshi’s petition to a five-judge Constitution Bench. [caption id=“attachment_1675073” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Aziz Qureshi. Ibnlive[/caption] Qureshi, unlike other UPA-era governors who quit, decided not to take things lying down. According to a Times of India report, he “termed the home secretary’s telephone call asking him to quit as “rank insubordination” and “audacious”. Miffed by the call, Qureshi approached the Supreme Court, which heard his matter today. The Times of India reported: “Qureshi said if at all someone should ask him to quit, it could only be the President and no one else. The governor, as has been consistently ruled by the Supreme Court, was not an employee of the Union government, he said.” In his petition to the Supreme Court Qureshi had cited BP Singhal’s case during the UPA rule. The Indian Express reported, “BJP MP Singhal had challenged the UPA government’s 2004 decision to remove Vishnu Kant Shastri (UP), Babu Parmanand (Haryana), Kailashpati Mishra (Gujarat) and Kidarnath Sahni (Goa).” At that time the apex court had said that governors were not employees of the Centre.