the goan I network
MARGAO
Welcoming the Supreme Court’s Judgement in the Manipur MLA disqualification case, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Girish Chodankar on Wednesday urged the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly to take cognizance of the Apex Court’s order and dispose of the disqualification petition filed against the 10 Congress MLAs as per Court
guidelines.
The GPCC chief has warned that failure by the office of the Speaker to dispose of disqualification within the SC outer limit period of three months would force him to knock the doors of the appropriate authority seeking justice.
Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Chodankar said the office of the Speaker has been sitting on his plea to disqualify the 10 Congress MLAs, who joined the BJP on July 9 last, for the last five months.
“In the case of the Manipur MLA case, the Supreme Court has set four months for the Speaker to dispose of the disqualification. As far as the 10 Congress MLAs case is concerned, the Speaker has been sitting on my petition for the last five months without any hearing. The Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker should take cognizance of the Supreme Court judgement and dispose of my petition against the Congress MLAs,” Chodankar said.
He said the Supreme Court Judgement has made it very clear that the those who are liable for disqualification should not hold any Constitutional post, including post of minister in the
Cabinet.
“I want to urge the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly through the medium of the media to take cognizance of the SC ruling and dispose of the disqualification pending against the 10 Congress MLAs. I had filed the disqualification petition against the 10 MLAs for the reason that there was no split in the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee and the All India Congress Committee when the MLAs merged themselves with the BJP,”
he said.
The GPCC chief welcomed the Supreme Court decision, recommending the appointing of an Independent Authority headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge of retired CJI of a High Court to decide disqualification cases, saying instances are galore where Speakers had abused and misused the provision of the 10th Schedule
of the Constitution.
