Supreme Court defers hearing on disqualified rebel Himachal Congress MLAs to March 18

Satya Prakash

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New Delhi, March 12

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred to March 18 the hearing on a petition filed six disqualified Himachal Pradesh rebel Congress MLAs challenging state Legislative Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania’s February 29 decision to disqualify them under the anti-defection law.

A Bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna deferred the hearing to next Monday after senior counsel Satya Pal Jain requested for an adjournment on the ground that senior advocate Harish Salve, who was to appear for the petitioners, was unable to join.

The Bench, however, wondered why the petitioners didn’t approach the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

“Alright. But tell me one thing. Why can’t you go to HC? What is the fundamental right?” Justice Khanna asked.

As Jain said they had been elected, Justice Khanna pointed out, “That’s not a fundamental right.”

Jain said it’s a rare case where within 18 hours the petitioners were disqualified.

“That’s disputed by them. Alright, we’ll hear it on Monday,” said the Bench, which also included Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice PK Mishra.

The rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified for defying a party whip during the Budget session.

The Speaker was represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal, AM Singhvi and others.

Alleging that they were not given adequate opportunity to respond to the disqualification petition, the rebel Congress MLAs submitted that it amounted to violation of the principles of natural justice.

The six rebel Congress MLAs had voted in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls which ended in a 34-34 tie, with the three Independents also voting for the saffron party. Mahajan finally defeated Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi after the result was decided by a draw of lots.

Defying a party whip, the petitioner rebel Congress MLAs — Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma had abstained from voting on the Budget. It was on this ground that the Congress had sought their disqualification — the first such decision under the anti-defection law in Himachal Pradesh.

Later, the Himachal Pradesh Assembly had passed the Finance Bill (Budget) by voice vote after Speaker Pathania suspended 15 BJP MLAs.

Following their disqualification, the effective strength of the House has been reduced from 68 to 62 and the ruling Congress now has 34 MLAs, instead of 40.

Added to the Constitution through the 52nd Amendment in 1985, the Tenth Schedule envisages two circumstances when a lawmaker can be disqualified — if he/she voluntarily gives up membership of a party and when he/she votes/abstains from voting contrary to party directive.

Acting on a disqualification petition filed by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan, the Speaker had on February 29 ruled that the rebel Congress MLAs attracted disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution i.e. the anti-defection law and ceased to be members of the House with immediate effect for defying the party whip. They had signed the attendance register but abstained from the House during the voting on the Budget, said the Speaker who had issued notices to them through Whatsapp and e-mail requiring them to appear for hearing.

Noting that a quick decision on disqualification petition was necessary to maintain the dignity of democracy and to check the “Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram” phenomenon, the Speaker had clarified that his verdict had no link with the cross-voting by the rebel Congress MLAs in the Rajya Sabha polls.

On behalf of the rebel Congress MLAs, senior counsel Satya Pal Jain had submitted that they were given only a show-cause notice and were not supplied a copy of the petition or the annexure and that the seven-day mandatory time allowed for responding to the notice was not given to them.

The Speaker had turned down Jain’s request for time to respond to the notice, saying the “evidence was absolutely clear”.