RAVI VARMA KUMAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner who is a practising Advocate of this Court and a Professor of Law, has filed this writ petition questioning the condition purported to have been imposed by the President of India on the 2nd respondent to prove the majority in the house of people within one month from the date of assuming office as the Prime Minister of India. According to the petitioner such a condition cannot be imposed by the President; therefore in the interest of healthy conventions and proper enforcement of constitutional provisions, this writ petition has been filed.

(2.) According to the petitioner it is imperative for the President to invite a person to become the Prime Minister unconditionally and when a Prime Minister is appointed by the President and he takes office, then it is for the appointee to seek vote of confidence as and when he chooses. In support of this proposition the petitioner also relied on an observation of the Calcutta High Court in Madan Murari Verma v Choudhuri Charan Singh and Another, AIR 1980 Cal. 95, at para 11 wherein Justice Sabhyasachi Mukharji, (as he then was) observed that strictly speaking, in terms of the Constitution, the President was not competent to impose any condition while inviting a person to become the Prime Minister. However, on facts, in the said case, it was found that there was no such specific condition as a term of appointment.

(3.) In the said case the relevant paragraph in the letter written by the then President of India to Mr. Charan Singh while inviting him to form Government stated as follows: