BEG - (1.) -
(2.) "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States." Thevery first mandate of the first article of our Constitution to which we oweallegiance thus prohibits, by necessary implication, according to the plaintiff inthe original suit now before us under Article 131 of the Constitution of India,any constitutionally unjustifiable trespass by the" Union government uponthe domain of the powers of the States. The State of Karnataka, has,therefore sued, for a declaration., that a notification dated23/05/1977(hereinafter referred to as 'the central Notification') constituting aCommission of Inquiry in purported exercise of its powers under S. 3of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 (hereinafter referred to as 'theAct'), is illegal and ultra vires. This declaration is sought on one of twoalternative grounds : firstly, that the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, doesnot "authorise the central government to constitute a Commission ofInquiry in regard to matters falling exclusively within the sphere of theState's legislative and executive power"; and, secondly, that if the provisionsof the Act do cover the central government Notification, they areultra vires for contravention of "the terms of the Constitution as well as thefederal structure implicit and accepted as an inviolable basic feature of theConstitution". Consequentially, 'the plaintiff seeks a perpetual injunction torestrain the respondents, the Union of India and Shri A. N. Grover, the oneman Commission of Inquiry into "charges of corruption, nepotism, favouritism and misuse of governmental power against the Chief Minister andother Ministers of the State of Karnataka", from acting under the centralGovernment's notification. The plaintiff State's case is : that, the Congress party was returnedby the electors by a majority at an election held in the State in 1972; that,the majority party in the Legislature elected Shri Devraj Urs as its leaderwho then formed his government as required by Article 163 of the Constitution; that, the government thus installed, by what must be deemed to bethe will and decision of the State Legislature, continues to enjoy theconfidence of the Legislature and is in office; that, in the recent Lok Sabhaelections, the Congress party headed by Shri Devraj Urs achieved a resounding success by having won 26 out of 28 seats so that the Janata party, whichis in power at the Centre, must be deemed to have been rejected by theelectorate, but it is indirectly, through the appointment of a centralCommission of Inquiry, trying to discredit the Congress party and its leadersin the State of Karnataka, and, thereby, interfering with the democraticmachinery of control and supervision of the government of the Stateprovided by the Constitution itself. On26/04/1977, the Union Home Minister sent a letter to theChief Minister of the State communicating the allegations contained in aMemorandum submitted by certain members of the opposition party in theKarnataka State Legislature and asked him to make his comments. TheChief Minister gave a reply dated13/05/1977, a copy of which wasattached to the plaint.
(3.) THE Chief Minister, in his reply, complains that "Slanderous propaganda has been unleashed without any verification of the truth or otherwise ofthe allegations or past history of most of the charges". He points out thatbroadcasts and Press reports had given him an intimation of the allegationssent to him even before they were received by him with the Home Minister'sletter. THE Chief Minister said: "It is reasonable to presume that the626object of this campaign of slander is mainly to tarnish the image of theCongress party, my colleagues and myself in an effort to gain, if possible,power for your party in the State immediately after your party was totallyrejected by the electorate of the State in the recent Lok Sabha elections".THE insinuation was that the whole object of manipulated charges againstthe Chief Minister was to vilify him and his government and to bring himdown in the estimation of the public so as to destroy the support which theCongress party had from the people of the State. It was thus a charge of malice in fact. The Chief Minister also took shelter behind the federal principlessaid to be embodied in our Constitution and described them as "the cornerstone of national unity and national integrity". He asserted: "The Constitution is the source of all power for the various organs of the Centre and theState and all actions and exercise of all power under any of the statuteseither by the Centre or by the State must conform to and be subordinated tothe scheme of distribution of powers, legislative and executive, under thefederal scheme of the Constitution".;