Taken aback, Modi and his men go into a huddle

The Supreme Court’s indictment of the Narendra Modi government seemed to have had its intended impact. Ministers, who had said the NHRC...

The Supreme Court’s indictment of the Narendra Modi government seemed to have had its intended impact. Ministers, who had said the NHRC’s appeal was a sign of its lack of confidence in the judiciary, were at a loss for words, and bureaucrats were huddled up in meetings throughout the day. Even Modi looked perturbed.

While everything seemed calm on the surface because the matter was treated with secrecy, senior bureaucrats and the DGP were seen rushing from meeting to meeting.

Not my draft: Oza

If the Supreme Court was scathing with the state government, it did not spare the man who drafted it, saying any junior counsel with a year’s experience would have done better. Arun Oza, govt pleader and public prosecutor, only said: ‘‘We had very little time to prepare and draft the appeal. The draft was prepared based on the grounds provided by the state government.’’ He added that the Advocate-General and others had also gone through the draft and approved it.

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Modi seemed quite taken aback but was careful not to show it. He was monitoring the situation but from home. It was learnt that Modi discussed the matter with the chief secretary and home secretary and that he called up his friend, Union Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley who is now in Cancun for the WTO conference.

Modi turned up at the Secretariat only after 3 pm to attend a high-level meeting on industry and tourism policy. After the meeting, he remained in his chamber for a few minutes and then left for a video-conference with some district collectors.

The Chief Minister also held consultations with officials of the Law Department and asked Law Minister Ashok Bhatt to find out all details of the Court order. Late in the night, Modi was closeted with Minister of State for Home Amit Shah. At the Chief Minister’s Office, the Home and Law Departments — most directly touched by the Court’s remarks — officials said they hadn’t heard of the order.

‘‘I learnt of the order only around 2 pm and am yet to go through the details,’’ said Principal Secretary (Home) K.C. Kapoor. Later, he met DGP K. Chakravarthy.

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The DGP held meetings with many senior officers, including the Principal Secretary. Law and Legislative Affairs Minister Ashok Bhatt met officials of his department and Advocate-General Suresh N. Shelat. ‘‘Whatever directions and observations the SC makes, we will try to implement them,’’ said Bhatt. ‘‘But first, we want to study the observations and then we will decide what to do.’’

Minister of State for Home Amit Shah seemed perturbed. Shah’s only response to questions was: ‘‘No comment.’’ He asked reporters to contact his colleague Saurabh Patel, a government spokesman, but Patel, too, would say no more than: ‘‘Let’s wait for details, we will study them and then react. We have, of course, to obey the Court’s order, so the CS and the DGP will appear before the SC.’’

Asked what the government’s rajdharma was, Patel responded with a: ‘‘No comment.’’ Chief Secretary P.K. Laheri, who met the DGP in the evening, was non-committal. Laheri said: ‘‘I will furnish all details if required by the Court. I will discuss the issue with Legal Secretary Bela Trivedi and Secretary for Law and Order Raj Kumar, who are expected to return from Delhi this evening.’’