The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Telangana Legislative Assembly Speaker to decide within three months, the petitions related to disqualification of 10 BRS MLAs under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih observed that it could not let the disqualification petitions remain pending during the term of the Assembly, allowing the defectors to reap the benefits of the delay.
The Apex Court further expressed it’s displeasure over the fact that the Speaker had not even issued notice on the disqualification petitions for nearly seven months, stating that expeditiousness was one of the reasons why the Parliament entrusted the important task of adjudicating disqualification petitions to the Speaker/Chairman.
Non-issuance of notice for a period of seven months and issuing notice only after either the proceedings were filed before this Court or after this Court heard the matter for the first time, could not, by any stretch of imagination, be envisaged as acting in an expeditious manner, it added.
The Bench observed that the failure to issue directions to the Speaker in the facts and circumstances of this case would frustrate the very objective of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
This would amount to allowing the Speaker to repeat the widely criticised situation of ‘operation successful, patient dead,’ it added.
It further noted that the Speaker did not enjoy any constitutional immunity, while acting as a Tribunal under the Tenth schedule.
The top court of the country also directed the Speaker not to allow the MLAs facing the disqualification pleas to protract the proceedings. If the MLAs made any such delaying tactics, adverse inference could be drawn against them, it added.
Setting aside the verdict delivered by the Division Bench of the Telangana High Court, which nullified the single bench direction to the Speaker to fix the schedule of hearing within four weeks, the Bench permitted the petitions filed by BRS leaders KT Rama Rao, Padi Kaushik Reddy and KO Vivekanand.
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