A three-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana held that the Speaker cannot dictate the duration of the disqualification till the end of the 15th legislative assembly term.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Speaker’s order of disqualifying 17 Karnataka MLAs, who had challenged their suspension by former state assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana held that the Speaker cannot dictate the duration of the disqualification till the end of the 15th legislative assembly term.
This means the disqualified MLAs can contest the December 5 by-election for which nominations are being filed.
The speaker had disqualified the rebel MLAs till the end of the term of Assembly till 2023.
But the bench today said that the Speaker did not have the power to prescribe a period of disqualification of an MLA.
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A three-judge bench also said if elected in by-polls, these disqualified MLAs can become ministers or hold public office.
The bench deprecated the manner in which the disqualified MLAs directly approached it without first moving the high court.
The court said its verdict is based on facts and circumstance of the case and does not interfere in the Speaker’s power to disqualify members.
The top court passed the verdict on petitions filed by these disqualified MLAs.
The top court had reserved its verdict on October 25 on petitions filed by these disqualified MLAs challenging orders of Kumar to disqualify them.
Kumar had disqualified the 17 legislators of the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition ahead of a trust vote in July.
The then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy had resigned after losing the trust vote, which paved the way for the BJP-led government in the state under BS Yediyurappa.
Bypolls to 15 out of these 17 assembly seats which fell vacant following the disqualification of MLAs are scheduled on December 5 and candidates are required to file their nomination papers between November 11 and November 18.
Some of these disqualified MLAs had argued in the apex court that they have an “indefeasible right” to resign as members of the assembly and the decision by the then Speaker to disqualify them smacks of “vengeance” and “mala fide”.
The court also expressed concern over the growing trend of speaker acting against the constitutional mandate and said, “citizens are denied stable governments.”
During arguments in the matter, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Karnataka Congress, had contended that the then Speaker, who was the master of the Assembly, had exercised his jurisdiction to disqualify these MLAs and his decision cannot be questioned.
Sibal had also submitted that “the matter needs to be referred to a Constitution bench as it raises matters of grave constitutional importance”.
The incumbent Karnataka Assembly Speaker had earlier told the top court that he has no difficulty in hearing these 17 MLAs and take a “fresh call” on the issue.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the office of the Karnataka Assembly Speaker, had submitted that under the scheme of Constitution, a lawmaker has a right to resign and the Speaker should accept it.
In July, the 17 rebel legislators had switched sides to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after assembly elections, leading to the collapse of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S) coalition government.
Speaker Kumar had refused to accept their resignations and instead disqualified them, barring them from contesting elections until the end of the assembly’s term in 2023.
The legislators then moved the Supreme Court challenging the ruling.
Kumar had disqualified the lawmakers on grounds that their resignations were not voluntary and genuine, hence it amounted to defection.
The rebel members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) argued that their resignation was voluntary and they have the right to resign.
Also, they claimed that the Speaker only gave them three days as against the mandated seven days to dispute their disqualification.
The lawmakers argued that even if their disqualification was upheld it cannot last until 2023, but should be valid only until fresh elections take place.
The current Assembly Speaker is V Hegde Kageri.
The disqualified MLAs are: Pratap Gowda Patil, BC Patil, Shivram Hebbar, ST Somashekar, Byrati Basavaraj, Anand Singh, R Roshan Baig, N Munirathna, K Sudhakar and MTB Nagaraj, Shrimant Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumatalli and R Shankar (all Congress).
JD(S) members who faced action are K Gopalaiah, AH Vishwanath and KC Narayana Gowda.
