The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation seeking directions to the Kerala Legislative Assembly to consider a representation urging that proceedings against expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil be dropped before the House’s ethics committee. The court held that it cannot issue directions to the Speaker regarding how proceedings in the Assembly should be conducted.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. ruled that the petition was not maintainable. The bench observed that the judiciary cannot direct the Speaker of a legislative assembly on matters concerning the conduct of proceedings within the House. The detailed order is awaited.
The petition was filed by advocate Kulathoor Jaisingh. It challenged the continuation of proceedings before the ethics committee of the Kerala Legislative Assembly arising from a complaint submitted by CPI(M) MLA D.K. Murali against Rahul Mamkootathil.
According to the petition, Murali had approached the Speaker alleging that Mamkootathil had engaged in conduct unbecoming of an MLA and sought permission to raise the issue in the House. The plea, filed through advocate M.R. Sarin, contended that the complaint was made with “malafide intention due to political reasons.”
The petitioner further alleged that the Speaker forwarded the complaint to the ethics committee without considering the allegations contained in it and endorsed the panel to examine the matter.
Jaisingh stated that he had submitted a representation to the Speaker requesting that the proceedings against Mamkootathil, the MLA representing the Palakkad Assembly constituency, be dropped. A reminder representation was also sent later, but no action was taken on either communication.
Claiming that his representations had not been acted upon, the petitioner approached the High Court seeking directions to the ethics committee to consider his request for dropping the proceedings against the legislator.
Rahul Mamkootathil is currently facing investigation in three separate cases of sexual assault filed by three different women. He is presently out on bail in all the cases.
