Judgement

BEG, C.J.I. :- "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States." The very first mandate of the first Article of our Constitution to which we owe allegiance thus prohibits, by necessary implication, according to the plaintiff in the original suit now before us under Art. 131 of the Constitution of India, any constitutionally unjustifiable trespass by the Union Government upto the domain of the powers of the States. The State of Karnataka, has therefore, sued for a declaration that a notification dated 23-5-1977 (hereinafter referred to as the Central Notification) constituting a Commission of Inquiry in purported exercise of its powers under

Section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), is illegal asd ultra vires. This declaration is sought on one of two alternative grounds: firstly, that the Commissions of inquiry Act, 1952, does not "authorise the Central Government to constitute a Commission of Inquiry in regard to matters falling exclusively within the sphere of the States legislative and executive power"; and, secondly, that if the provisions of the Act do cover the Central Govt. Notification, they are ultra vires for contravention of "the terms of the Constitution as well as the federal structure implicit and accepted as an inviolable basic feature of the Constitution." Consequently, the plaintiff seeks a perpetual injunction to restrain the respondents, the Union of India and Shri A. N. Grover, the one-man Commission on Inquiry into "charges of corruption, nepotism, favouritism and misuse of governmental power against the Chief Minister and other Ministers of the State of Karnataka", from acting under the Central Governments notification.

2. The plaintiff States case is: that, the Congres party was returned by 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 leader who then formed his Government as required by Art. 163 of the constitution; that, the Government thus installed, by what must be deemed to be the will and decision of the State Legislature, continues to enjoy the confidence of the legislature and is in office; that, in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party headed by Shri Devraj Urs achieved a resounding success by having won 26 out of 28 seats so that the Janta party, which is in power at the Centre, must be deemed to have been rejected by the electorate, but it is indirectly, through the appointment of a Central Commission of Inquiry, trying to discredit the Congress Party and its leaders in the State of Karnataka, and, thereby, interfering with the democratic machinery of control and supervision of the Government of the State provided by the Constitution itself.

3. On 26th April, 1977, the Union Home Minister sent a letter to the chief Minister of the State communicating the allegations contained in a memorandum submitted by certain members of the opposition party in the Karnataka State Legislature and asked him to make his comments. The Chief Minister gave a reply dated 13th May, 1977, a copy of which was attached to the plaint.

4. The Chief Minister, in his reply, complains that "slanderous propaganda has been unleashed without any verification of the truth or otherwise of the allegation or past history of most of the charges." He points out that broadcasts and press reports had given him an intimation of the allegations sent to him even before they were received by him with the Home Ministers letter. The Chief Minister said: "It is reasonable to presume that the object of this compaign of slander is mainly to tarnish the image of the Congress party, my colleagues and myself in an effort to gain, if possible, power for your party in the State immediately after your party was totally rejected by the electorate of the State in the recent Lok Sabha elections." The insinuation was that the whole object of manipulated charges against the Chief Minister was