Marathas, reservation, education, jobs, Supreme Court, Bombay High Court, Maharashtra law
x
The Supreme Court bench fixed March 17 to hear at length a batch of pleas filed for and against the Maratha quota. Photo: PTI

SC to pronounce order on rebel Karnataka MLAs plea tomorrow


The Supreme Court will deliver on Wednesday (July 17) its crucial order on pleas of 15 rebel Congress-JD (S) MLAs seeking a direction for Karnataka Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar to accept their resignations, which may seal the fate of 14-month-old H D Kumaraswamy government.

The apex court reserved its order after high-voltage arguments in which Kumaraswamy and the Speaker questioned its jurisdiction on entertaining the rebel MLAs, who alleged that they are being forced to act in a particular manner so as to save the coalition government that has lost majority.

Kumaraswamy and Kumar contended that the court cannot enter into the Speakers domain by asking him first to decide on the resignations of these MLAs and thereafter the applications seeking their disqualification.

Also read: Karnataka crisis: Trust vote to be taken up on July 18, says Speaker

However, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it was not restraining the Speaker from deciding the disqualification but was only asking him to ascertain whether they voluntarily resigned.

The bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, also said that the apex court had given a “very high status” to the Speaker while interpreting the anti-defection law decades ago and “probably that needs a re-look after so many years”. The bench said there are rival submissions on the issue of resignation and disqualification of MLAs and “we will do the required balancing.”

The court also questioned the contentions of the Speaker that the issue of disqualification has to be decided first by asking him what was he doing till July 10 when the MLAs had resigned on July 6 itself.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Kumaraswamy, said that these rebel MLAs are “hunting in a pack” and the Speaker cannot “turn a blind eye” to it since their motive is to bring down the government. “This is not the Speaker versus the court. This is between the Chief Minister and somebody who wants to become the Chief Minister and bring down this government,” he said, while urging the court to vacate its two interim orders asking the Speaker to decide the resignations, and maintain a status quo. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for rebel MLAs, said the Speaker is acting in a “partisan” and “mala fide” manner by not accepting their resignations and he has “frustrated” the fundamental rights of these lawmakers to resign.

He said as per constitutional rules, Speaker has to take an “immediate” decision on resignations and by not doing this, the Speaker is “flouting the rules”. “Here is a government which has lost majority in the House and here is a Speaker who wants to prop this government,” Rohatgi said.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for the Speaker, said disqualification pleas against the MLAs were filed prior to their resignations on July 11 when they physically appeared before Speaker.

Read More
Next Story