BJP leader Vijender Gupta moved the Delhi High Court on Thursday challenging his one-year suspension from the Delhi assembly by the Speaker.
His plea was mentioned by senior advocate Jayant Mehta before a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Datta.
The bench agreed to list the petition for hearing on Friday.
On March 21, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel had suspended Gupta till the next budget session for allegedly obstructing the proceedings of the House.
In the petition, the legislator from Rohini said his suspension is “unfair, unjust, unreasonable” and contrary to the principles of natural justice as well as the law including the Rules of Procedure & Conduct of Business, Legislative Assembly of National Capital Territory of Delhi.
It is a strategy to scuttle the voice of the opposition and violated his powers and privileges as a member of the assembly, the plea alleged.
The plea asserted the procedure adopted by the Speaker was in absolute violation of Gupta’s rights guaranteed under the Constitution as a citizen as well as a member of legislative assembly.
“Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sanjeev Jha proposed petitioner’s suspension from the House for a period of one year. The Hon’ble Speaker put the motion to vote by adopting the voice vote and ordered the suspension of the Petitioner from sittings of the House for one year without any justification and again marshalled out the Petitioner,” said the plea filed through lawyers Neeraj, Pavan Narang and Satya Ranjan Swain said.
“Petitioner’s suspension is not an extemporaneous incident but is a result of a well-designed conspiracy and a well-planned strategy to scuttle the voice of the opposition and ignore the serious breach committed by the (AAP) Minister. Needless to mention that as a leader of the opposition party, the Petitioner was discharging his constitutional duties in the House of the Legislative Assembly,” added the plea.
Earlier that day, Gupta had proposed a breach of privilege motion against Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot and Environment Minister Gopal Rai for allegedly leaking Delhi budget details on social media.
To this, Speaker Goel had said, “As per rules, such a notice needs to be given three hours before. You are also saying that it should be taken up for discussion. It seems the aim is to create a ruckus and waste the time of the House.”
The speaker also issued a strict warning to Gupta.
As the House reconvened after 2 pm, Gupta again raised the issue, following which AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha demanded that he be expelled for a year.
The motion as passed by the House with Goel saying that Gupta was suspended from the Delhi Assembly proceedings till the next Budget session.
