The Supreme Court will hear on February 10, a petition filed by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and BRS MLAs against the Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker for not taking a decision on the disqualification petitions filed by seven MLAs who contested the 2023 Assembly elections on BRS ticket but later joined the ruling Congress party in the state.
Respondent Nos. 2 to 8, whose defection has been assailed by the petitioners include Srinivas Reddy Parigi, Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, Kale Yadaiah, T. Prakash Goud, A. Gandhi, Gudem Mahipal Reddy and M. Sanjay Kumar.
The Bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran listed the matter for hearing with another petition filed by Telangana MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy (BRS) pertaining to the defection of three MLAs (Venkata Rao Tellam, Kadiyam Srihari and Danam Nagender) from BRS to Congress, seeking response of the Telangana Assembly Speaker about a reasonable period for deciding the disqualification pleas.
The petitioners in the instant case pointed out that elections to the Telangana Legislative Assembly were held on November 30, 2023, while the disqualification petitions were filed between June 25, 2024 and July 16, 2024.
The Speaker, however, did nothing in the past six months. Noting that even a single notice was not issued to the defecting MLAs on the disqualification petitions, the petitioners contended that there was no likelihood of adjudication and conclusion of the disqualification proceedings within the remaining term of the third Telangana Legislative Assembly.
The petitioners further contended that Respondents No 2 to 8, having contested the elections on the Form-B issued by BRS, joined the Indian National Congress by voluntarily giving up their BRS membership as such incurred disqualification on the ground of defection as per Para 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
The petitioners mentioned the Keisham Meghachandra Singh vs Manipur Legislative case, wherein the Supreme Court held that the Speaker, acting as a tribunal under the Tenth Schedule, was bound to decide disqualification petitions within a reasonable period.
Reasonability would depend on the facts of each case, however, absent exceptional circumstances for which there was good reason, a period of three months from the date on which the petition was filed was the outer limit within which disqualification petitions filed before the Speaker must be decided if the constitutional objective of disqualifying persons who have infracted the Tenth Schedule was to be adhered to, they added.
They alleged that the defected MLAs were participating in Assembly proceedings and official Congress party programs/meetings, thus, causing voters in Telangana to lose faith in the principles of democracy and the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.
As per the petitioners, respondents No.2 to 8 did not deserve to be in the House even for a single day. Due to inordinate delay caused by Respondent No.1, Respondents No.2 to 8 also participated in the voting process of the Bills, contrary to the constitutional mandate and the law laid down by this Court, they added.
The petitioners further argued that the Speaker’s inaction on earlier disqualification petitions (filed in respect of three BRS MLAs who defected to Congress) encouraged the defection of seven respondent MLAs.
The added that the Congress party has openly supported the defections saying that the disqualification petitions would not be decided by the Speaker within the term of the Assembly.
The petitioners sought a direction to the Telangana Assembly Speaker to issue notices to the MLAs who defected, as well as to decide the disqualification petitions filed against them in a time-bound manner, preferably on a day-to-day basis within an outer limit of four weeks.