The Supreme Court will hear on November 17 a contempt petition accusing the Telangana Assembly Speaker of failing to comply with its order to decide disqualification pleas against 10 Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs who defected to the ruling Congress.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai took note of the plea on Monday after it was mentioned for urgent hearing. The petitioner’s counsel said the Speaker had not acted within the three-month period fixed by the court on July 31 to conclude the disqualification proceedings.
When the counsel pointed out that the respondents were “dragging the proceedings till the end of the month for obvious reasons,” apparently referring to the Chief Justice’s impending retirement on November 23, CJI Gavai replied, “The Supreme Court will not close after the 24th of November.”
The petitioner’s counsel further submitted that no hearing had taken place since the court’s earlier order. “The MLAs are still continuing. Your lordships had held that if any MLA was trying to protract the proceedings, an adverse inference would be drawn. Two petitions are pending. The Speaker has not touched them. Others are in the evidence stage,” he said.
The contempt plea arises from the Supreme Court’s July 31 judgment delivered by a bench of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice A.G. Masih, in a batch of writ petitions filed by BRS leaders K.T. Rama Rao, Padi Kaushik Reddy, and K.O. Vivekanand.
In that judgment, the top court directed the Telangana Speaker to decide the disqualification petitions against 10 MLAs within three months. The court also underscored that the Speaker functions as a tribunal while deciding disqualification cases under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, and therefore does not enjoy constitutional immunity.
Emphasising the importance of prompt adjudication in defection cases, the bench had observed:
“The very foundation of our democracy is shaken when elected representatives are allowed to defect and yet continue in office without timely adjudication. Parliament had trusted the high office of the Speaker to act expeditiously. That trust, in many cases, has not been honoured.”
The Tenth Schedule deals with the disqualification of legislators on the ground of defection. The outcome of the upcoming hearing may determine whether the Speaker’s inaction amounts to contempt of court.
