Supreme Court gives Telangana Speaker a week to act on defectors
The three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai, verbally stated that the conduct of the Speaker reflected gross contempt of the court. The observation was made during the hearing of the plea of BRS MLA Kaushik Reddy, who moved the top court seeking disqualification of ten MLAs who defected to Congress from BRS in 2023.
In July this year, the SC had given a three-month deadline to the Speaker to decide on such demands. But noticing further delay, the CJI on Monday warned that the Speaker would face a contempt of court case if he did not decide on the issue by next week. “The Telangana Speaker is committing gross contempt of court. Either a decision has to be taken by next week or he will face contempt. We have already decided that he (Speaker) does not have constitutional immunity. It is up to him to decide where he wants to spend his New Year,” CJI Gavai said.
The 10 BRS MLAs had switched to the Congress in 2023, soon after the Congress won the Telangana assembly elections to form the government.
The matter reached the Telangana High Court after the Speaker allegedly delayed taking any decision on whether these MLAs would be disqualified for defection. In September last year, the high court had directed the parliamentary secretary to submit disqualification objections to the Speaker, who was asked to decide on the matter within a certain period of time. The schedule set for the speaker’s decision had to be forwarded to the high court. The single judge had added that if no action is taken within four weeks, the matter will automatically be reopened and necessary orders will be given.
This decision was challenged before the division bench of the high court, which set aside the single judge’s ultimatum and instead asked the Speaker to decide the matter within a “reasonable” time. The matter later reached the SC, which held that the division bench had erred in interfering with the single judge’s directions.
