Breaking : SC Upholds Disqualification Of 17 Karnataka MLAs; But Holds That Speaker Cannot Disqualify For Full Term [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the decision of former Karnataka Speaker's decision to disqualify 17 rebel MLAs on the ground of defection. However, in partial relief to the MLAs, the apex court held that the duration of disqualification cannot be till the end of the term of the house. This means that they can re-contest in the upcoming by polls scheduled to take place in December.The Court held that the Speaker does not have the power to prescribe the period of disqualification. The Speaker had disqualified the MLAs till the end of the term of the house, that it is till 2023.Therefore, orders dated July 25 and July 28 of the former Speaker Ramesh Kumar were upheld, to the extent they disqualified the MLAs; however, the part of the orders detailing the duration of disqualification was set aside.As per the operative portion of judgment :1. Orders dated 25.07.2019 and 28.07.2019 passed by the Speaker in Disqualification Petition Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 of 2019, are upheld to the extent of the disqualification of the Petitioners therein.2. However, the part of Speaker's orders detailing the duration of disqualification, viz., from the date of the respective order till the expiry of the term of the 15th Legislative Assembly of Karnataka, is accordingly set aside.Justice Ramana, reading out the judgment, observed that the Court is not appreciating the manner in which the petitioner approached it directly. A party challenging disqualification is required to first approach the HC, even though this court has jurisdiction. That way, the SC will have the benefit of HC judgement when dispute reaches it. On the point that the MLAs had the right to the resign, the SC observed :"Since we are deciding disqualification, resignation not needed to be gone into. As such there is no doubt that disqualification has nothing to do with resignation. Resignation does not take away power of disqualification of speaker".Speaker can only examine if resignation is voluntary or not. Otherwise he is bound to accept it. That is only satisfaction. It is clear that speaker in exercise of powers under constitution has this power, observed the Court.Importantly, the Court added that resignation will not efface the effects of disqualification. Disqualification relates back to the time on which it takes place. Resignation does not make it redundant. This finding of the Court was based on Articles 71(1) b and 164(1)b which are meant to discourage horse trading. A bench comprising Justices N V Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna and Krishna Murari had reserved judgment in the case on October 25. The MLAs were disqualified by the former speaker Ramesh Kumar on the ground that their resignations were not voluntary, and hence amounted to defection.Resignation Of Legislator Will Not Efface Impact Of Defection: SC In Karnataka MLAs Case [Read Judgment] Resignation Of MLA Will Not Efface Impact Of Defection; Disqualification Relates Back To Date Of Defection : SC [Read Judgment] Background of the case The current crisis started on July 1 with the resignations of Vijayanagara MLA Anand Singh and Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi. Ramesh was already suspended from Congress for anti-party activities. Within a week, nearly thirteen more MLAs from Congress and JD(S) resigned. They were reportedly camping at Mumbai in the security of the BJP-led government in the state. Although BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats after the 2018 elections, Congress and JD(S) had struck an out of blue alliance, stitching up 116 strength in the 224-members house. In a counter offensive move after the MLAs resigned, dealing a blow to the 13-month-old government, a delegation of Congress leaders met Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar and submitted the petition seeking, under the anti-defection law, disqualification of the rebel legislators. On July 10, the rebel MLAs moved the apex court alleging that the Speaker has failed in his constitutional duty and is on purpose procrastinating the acceptance of their resignations. On July 11, the bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had permitted the disqualified MLAs (then 10 in number) to appear before the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly at 6 PM on the same day, requesting the Speaker to grant an audience to them- "The petitioners, if they so wish and are so inclined, shall intimate the Hon'ble Speaker of the Assembly their decision to resign, in which event, the Hon'ble Speaker shall take a decision forthwith and, in any case, in the course of the remaining part of the day. Such decision of the Hon'ble Speaker as may be taken in terms of the present order, be laid before the Court tomorrow (12.07.2019)" The Speaker, on his part, had refused to be pushed around by the court's direction, arguing that he had the constitutional obligation under Article 190(3)(b) to ensure that the resignations were voluntary and genuine, that the rebel MLAs are attempting to avoid disqualification by tendering resignations...

Breaking : SC Upholds Disqualification Of 17 Karnataka MLAs; But Holds That Speaker Cannot Disqualify For Full Term [Read Judgment]

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