Kochi: Kerala High Court on Monday quashed the Kerala Assembly Speaker’s order disqualifying former chief whip P.C. George as member of the Assembly under the anti-defection law.
“It was a mala fide action on the part of the speaker to keep the resignation letter put in by P.C. George pending and disqualifying him. It can reasonably be inferred that such a course was deliberately adopted in order to facilitate George to have an ignominious exit from the Assembly,” the court observed.
“The normal rule is that the letter of resignation of a member is liable to be accepted immediately especially when it is handed over personally and the speaker informed that it is voluntary and genuine. The acceptance of the resignation of the member of a House of the legislature can be deferred only if the speaker has information or knowledge to the contrary. In this case, George personally handed over the resignation to the speaker and the speaker acknowledged the receipt with an endorsement that a decision would be taken after considering legal aspects,” the court said.
Justice V. Chitambaresh passed the order while allowing the petition filed by Mr George who had moved the court arguing that Speaker N. Shakthan was a tool in the hands of his (George’s) political rivals. The speaker took action against Mr George based on a complaint filed by Mr Thomas Unniyadan MLA who stated that the resignation was not voluntary or genuine and that the speaker was justified in deferring a decision thereon pending inquiry.
The decision of the speaker was unwarranted as Mr George had put in his resignation before. The court, however, permitted the speaker to consider afresh the question whether Mr George had incurred disqualification for voluntarily giving up the membership of his political party.
