Delhi High Court To Hear Tomorrow Pleas Challenging Suspension Of 7 BJP MLAs From Delhi Assembly Budget Session

The Delhi High Court has adjourned till tomorrow (February 20), hearing in the petitions filed by 7 BJP MLAs challenging their suspension from the remainder of the Budget session of the Delhi Assembly, for allegedly interrupting the Lieutenant Governor's address.Justice Prasad will hear arguments on interim relief tomorrow. "The only question is, what has been the consistent view of this court for the grant of punishment in the interim prayer? Tomorrow, we restrict ourselves to the interim relief aspect only,” the Judge said orally.The BJP MLAs had reportedly repeatedly interrupted Lt Governor VK Saxena during his address on February 15, which focused on highlighting the achievements of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.Seven BJP members, excluding Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, have been prohibited from participating in the House proceedings until disposal of case by committee of privilege.The suspended members are Mohan Singh Bisht, Ajay Mahawar, OP Sharma, Abhay Verma, Anil Vajpayi, Jitender Mahajan, and Vijender Gupta.The plea was mentioned today by Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta for urgent listing before a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet P.S. Arora. The matter was thereafter listed before the bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad.When the issue was brought before Justice Prasad, he initially proposed scheduling it for the following day. “If we have it tomorrow, we can do it much faster… I will be better prepared,” he remarked.Subsequently, upon the senior counsel's request for the Court to issue a notice to the opposing party, the Court opted to briefly hear the matter before adjourning it.Senior Counsel Mehta appearing on behalf of the petitioners cited Vijender Gupta V. Legislative Assembly Of The National Capital Territory Of Delhi Through Secretary & Anr. Ashish Shelar And Ors. Versus The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly & Anr.| W.P.(C) No. 797/2021 & Connected 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 91 whereby it was held that the suspension of the MLAs cannot be for an indefinite period. Further citing the cases, he submitted, "in terms of the rules, the maximum punishment that can be awarded should one be found guilty and assuming that the House was of the view that my conduct was disruptive, then the highest punishment that can be meted out is suspension for 3 days."He pointed out that it was the third day of suspension of the 7 MLAs. The senior counsel then read out the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Legislative Assembly before the Court, during which, justice Prasad remarked, “the question is, let's assume that a person is so disorderly, that in order to have a peaceful conduct of the remaining session, you are marshaled out, does it take away the right of the privilege committee to proceed further the matter to see whether a more stricter punishment is to be imposed or not?”Senior Counsel Kirti Uppal, who was appearing virtually, responded by saying, “yes it does take away the right. Ashish Shelar resolves all the questions that the Lordship is asking.”In the plea filed by the 7 MLAs, it has been alleged that other members of the Ruling party were also heckling and shouting inside the house; however, the Speaker “because of his biases and prejudices has not taken any action against the Deputy Speaker and members of the ruling party, though the said acts were of graver nature. But he ordered marshalling out the petitioner and other leaders of the Opposition party selectively at around 11:32 AM onwards.”Notably, seven out of the eight BJP MLAs in the House, were marshaled out by the Speaker at different points of time.The plea further mentions that on the next day of Budget Session (on 16.02.2024), during the proceedings of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, AAP MLA Dileep K Pandey, made a point of order at 11:13 AM, wherein he proposed the suspension of the 7 MLAs belonging to the opposition party from the House for an indefinite period. “Relying on Rule 6 (page 126) 5th Schedule of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Legislative Assembly of the NCT of Delhi, Dileep Pandey moved resolution against all the seven MLAs alleging that their previous acts are in violation of Code of Conduct for members of Delhi Legislative Assembly. He in the resolution stated that the matter be sent to Committee of Privileges and till the submission of findings of Committee of Privileges and the petitioner along with 6 other BJP MLA's be suspended,” the plea mentions.The plea further mentions that the Speaker 'arbitrarily and capriciously' accepted the said resolution and put the motion before the House and on its acceptance by the voice vote, ordered the suspension of the 7 MLAs without any justification and again marshaled out the opposition party MLAs. The Petitioners submitted that the impugned motion was 'manifestly unconstitutional and contrary to the Rules & Procedure and Conduct of Business of Legislative Assembly of Delhi.'The Petitioners further...

Delhi High Court To Hear Tomorrow Pleas Challenging Suspension Of 7 BJP MLAs From Delhi Assembly Budget Session

Bhavya Singh

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