Supreme Court issues notices in MLAs defection case

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from Telangana government and others on pleas against the purported delay by the Assembly Speaker in deciding the disqualification of BRS MLAs who had defected to the Congress, saying a timely decision was key and there couldn't be a case of "operation successful but patient is dead".

The apex court said the decision on the pleas over the disqualification of the lawmakers "cannot go on till the end of the Assembly’s tenure."

A bench comprising Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih also issued notices to the office of the Speaker of the Assembly, the Assembly secretary and the Election Commission besides MLAs Danam Nagender, Venkata Rao Tellam and Kadiam Srihari.

The top court directed the respondents to comply before the next hearing on March 25.

“Every matter cannot be dealt with in a manner that the operation is successful but the patient is dead,” Justice Gavai remarked.

Senior advocate C.A. Sundaram, appearing for BRS leader Padi Kaushik Reddy, said that not taking a decision by the Assembly Speaker amounted to a failure in performing the constitutional mandate.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi opposed the submission and said a time frame could not be given to the Speaker to decide the disqualification plea.

He said on July 1, 2024, the plea for disqualification was filed with the Apeaker and on July 9, a petition was filed in the Telangana High Court on the matter.

Justice Gavai said: “In a democracy, the process should not go on till the end of the term of the Assembly and if it happens then what will happen to the democratic principles."

“People are not only interested in getting the law decided but also see how it affects them,” the top court said.

The bench said when the case was first listed on January 31, it deferred the hearing to February 10 and asked senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi whether the Speaker would like to express the timeline within which he would decide the disqualification plea.

Rohatgi submitted no such statement could be made on behalf of the Speaker, the bench observed.

“Singhvi and Rohatgi state that no formal notice was there and thus no reply could be filed. Even though it is hyper technical we don't want it to be said that the case was decided against principles of natural justice. Hence we issue a notice returnable on March 25,” the bench said.

The top court directed Telangana High Court Registrar General to ensure that notices were served.

On February 10, the bench had said that in a democracy, the rights of a party couldn't be permitted to be frustrated. It had asked as to what will be the "reasonable time" for Speaker to decide pleas for disqualification of BRS MLAs.

A High Court division bench had said the Speaker must decide on the disqualification petitions against the three MLAs within a "reasonable time".

One of the pleas challenged the November 2024 order of the High Court over the disqualification of three BRS MLAs who joined the Congress whereas another petition related to the remaining seven legislators who defected.

Petitioner's counsel said a three-judge bench of the apex court had expressly said a "reasonable time" would mean within three months, barring exceptional circumstances.

The petitioners — BRS MLAs K.P. Vivekanand and P. Kaushik Reddy and BJP Assembly floor leader Aleti Maheshwar Reddy — moved the High Court seeking a direction to the Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions that were filed before the Speaker.

A single judge of the High Court on September 9 last year directed the Assembly Secretary to place the disqualification petitions before the Speaker for fixing a schedule of hearing within a period of four weeks.

The court then directed to communicate the schedule to the Registrar (Judicial) of the High Court.

It was also directed that in case no communication was received from the Assembly secretary, the matter would be reopened suo motu and appropriate orders shall be passed.