Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday paved the way for YSR Congress MLA Ms R.K. Roja to attend the ongoing Budget Session of AP Legislative Assembly by granting an interim suspension of a motion moved by the House suspending the MLA from attending Sessions for a year.
The AP Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution to suspend Ms Roja from Nagari Assembly segment in AP on December 18, 2015, during the discussion on call money issue, on the ground of obstructing the proceedings of the House and also allegedly making derogatory remarks against Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Ms Roja had initially challenged her suspension before the High Court followed by the Supreme Court, which had reverted the matter back to the High Court.
Justice A. Ramalingeswara Rao, who concluded the hearing on Wed-nesday, granted an interim order in favour of the petitioner by observing that “since this court came to the prima facie conclusion that motion carried out was contrary to Rule 340 of the Rules of the House, this Court has to consider the balance of convenience in the instant case.”
The judge added, “The petitioner is an elected member of the Assembly and in the normal course she is entitled to participate in the proceedings. If the suspension is continued during the pendency of the petition, the right of participation would be affected and cannot be restored in the event of her success in the case. Hence, there shall be an interim suspension of the motion, pending disposal of the petition.”
While granting the interim order, the judge made it clear that the order was not an endorsement of the conduct of the petitioner on December 18, 2015 in the House or against the authority of the Speaker to take action against the erring member, but only a prima facie expression of the legality of the motion passed on the day.
He added that the order would not preclude the House from taking any appropriate action pursuant to the pending privilege proceedings.
While adjourning the case for four weeks, the judge noted that the issu-es with regard to the ap-plication of principles of natural justice in a case like this, whether the Ho-use possessed the power to suspend a member etc. had to be considered in detail in the petition.
