The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, challenging the decision of the West Bengal Assembly Speaker not to disqualify MLA Mukul Roy.
The Bench of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjay Kumar came down heavily on Adhikari for moving the Supreme Court, instead of filing a petition in the Calcutta High Court.
The Apex Court said it did not see any reason to interfere and expressed its reservation on the petitioner for ‘bypassing’ the High Court.
The Bench further noted that Adhikari had approached the Apex Court earlier too and was told to move the High Court.
Stating that there was a system to follow, the top court of the country told the petitioner to withdraw the plea.
Appearing for Adhikari, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan contended that the plea was filed since the case in which the Apex Court had earlier directed the High Court to hear the matter has been pending before the Supreme Court.
However, the top court of the country suggested that the plea be moved before the Calcutta High Court.
Also representing Adhikari, Senior Advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan chose to withdraw the plea, which was filed through Advocate Surjendu Sankar Das.
On June 8 last year, Speaker Biman Banerjee had ruled that Roy was a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, while Adhikari and BJP had claimed that he defected to the Trinamool Congress (AITC) after declaration of results to the 2021 Assembly elections. Adhikari challenged this decision of the Speaker before the Apex Court.