Danam Takes U-Turn, Files Appeal Before SC on His Disqualification
Nagender’s appeal was filed before the Supreme Court around 1 pm on Saturday. The appeal had not been numbered till Saturday evening.
Hyderabad:In a U-turn within a few hours, former legislator Danam Nagender, who had indicated on Friday that he would not challenge his disqualification from the Assembly, on Saturday moved the Supreme Court seeking to set aside the Telangana High Court’s order that unseated him for defection.
Nagender’s appeal was filed before the Supreme Court around 1 pm on Saturday. The appeal had not been numbered till Saturday evening. His counsel is expected to mention the matter before the Supreme Court on Monday, seeking urgent listing particularly in view of the High Court’s direction to communicate the vacancy of the Khairatabad Assembly seat to the Election Commission of India.
Meanwhile, anticipating the appeal, BJP and BRS leaders Aleti Maheshwar Reddy and Paidi Kaushik Reddy, who were parties to the disqualification proceedings in the High Court, have filed caveats before the Supreme Court, seeking an opportunity to be heard before any interim order is passed on Nagender’s plea.
The High Court division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin had declined to keep its disqualification order in abeyance despite requests from Nagender’s counsel.
Nagender’s counsel was understood to have approached senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi and briefed him on the case. Nagender’s immediate objective before the Supreme Court was understood to be to seek at least an interim stay on the operation of the High Court order until the apex court considered his appeal.
In his appeal, Nagender questioned the extent of judicial review over the Speaker’s decision under the anti-defection law. He contended that the law on disqualification under the Tenth Schedule had to be applied with greater rigour and that judicial review of the Speaker’s decision was confined to the parameters laid down by the Supreme Court in the ‘Kihoto Hollohan’ case.
According to the petition, the High Court ought not to have intervened in the Speaker’s decision when the latter’s order was reasonable and within his jurisdiction. Nagender`s contention was that the judgment in the ‘Dr Mahachandra Prasad Singh’ case, which the High Court relied upon in his case, was inapplicable. According to him, that it was a distinguishable case and the disqualification petition in that case had been duly verified.