The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on a plea filed by Goa Congress Chief Girish Chodankar seeking a direction to the Goa Speaker to expeditiously decide on the disqualification of the party’s 10 former MLAs who joined the BJP in July 2019.
The bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, and Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian heard the petition and adjourned it till April 21.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Girish Chodankar, submitted that the Speaker has reserved his order on February 26 and hasn’t pronounced judgement till now.
He went on to say,
“This is making a mockery of whole procedure. Because Chief Justice S.A. Bobde is retiring on April 23 and if the order is not passed before the CJI SA Bobde retires then I will not be able to argue the case on merits.”
Thereafter, the Bench asks Solicitor General Tushar Mehta: Can you pass orders on April 20?
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SG Mehta seeks some time to take instructions.
After seeking instruction, SG Mehta informed the Court that the Goa Speaker will pass his order on April 20. The bench then listed the matter on April 21 for further hearing.
The petition filed against the Speaker of the Goa Assembly and 10 MLAs states the MLAs shifted from the Congress to the BJP. Similarly, a disqualification petition was filed against them for defection before the Speaker. Despite the same having been filed in 2019, the plea is yet to be heard.