In his response to my posting on the subject, Sachin Phadte asks about the role of the President: "Under the circumstances, what could he have done?" As pointed out by M.J. Akbar, the editor of "Asian Age" in a recent issue of the paper, he could have: 1) Asked for time and stated that he would act on his return to New Delhi or, at the very least, until the next morning instead of signing the Proclamation in indecent haste at the unearthly hour of 3 a.m. in Moscow! 2) Refer the recommendation to the Supreme Court for a legal opinion on its contitutionality - as provided in the Constitution itself (this would have avoided the embarassment of having the action eventually declared as unconstitutional.) 3) Returned the recommendation to the Cabinet for reconsideration (which he is also entitled to do under the Constitution. It is therefore not true that the President was left with no alternative in this unsavory episode. ===Tony Correia-Afonso.
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