New Delhi, September 8
The Supreme Court, which attracted a lot of criticism for intervening in the Jharkhand Assembly floor test last time especially from Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, was today approached again by three of the four MLAs who resigned from the Arjun Munda ministry seeking its intervention on the issue of notices to them by the Assembly Speaker.
They sought to restrain Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari from taking any action on a plea for their disqualification and allow them to participate in the crucial floor test on September 14 as had been asked for by Governor Syed Sibte Razi.
The three MLAs — Mr Kamlesh Kumar Singh, NCP, Mr Anos Ekka of the Jharkahnd Party and Mr Stephen Marandi, who had won as an Independent but joined a regional outfit, in a joint petition, said the Speaker’s move was aimed at disqualifying them before the trust vote. The Speaker has asked them to submit their replies by September 11 and appear before him the same day.
Besides the three, another MLA Madhu Koda had also resigned from the Munda government but he could not be proceeded against under the disqualification laws as his status as an Independent member remained unaffected as he had not joined any party.
Advocate K.V. Vishwanathan appearing for them made a special mention of the petition before a Bench headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal for an early hearing.
However, the court posted it for hearing for September 11 after initially asking them to go to the Jharkhand High Court.
