The Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) on Tuesday filed an application through the Right to Information (RTI) Act-2005 seeking detailed information from the Governor's secretariat. With this, Governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary has come under the RTI scrutiny for recommending President's Rule.
HNYF president G H Kharshanlor said HNYF sought details of information on copies of correspondence, including those from the Governor's secretariat to the Centre, which recommended President's Rule, copy of correspondence materials from the Centre to the Governor's secretariat that approved the central rule in the state.
The Front has also sought information on the copy of correspondence materials sent by various political parties of Meghalaya, both from NCP-led Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) and Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA), to Governor's office and vice-versa.
Citing the Supreme Court judgement of March 11, 1994, HNYF political secretary Sadon K Blah said, President's Rule before proclamation has to be backed by "material considerations" and not merely by the subjective satisfaction of the President. "Therefore, we would like to get the details of the material considerations that the Governor's office had considered before recommending PR in the state," Blah said.
"We wanted to know on what basis Article 356 of the Constitution became operational in the state and after getting the information through RTI we will get to know whether the Governor had abused the Constitution or not," Blah added.
Meanwhile, official sources pointed out that the Centre would have to withdraw President's rule (PR) from the State after May 19 if PR is not approved by Parliament within two months of it proclamation.