PANAJI
A fresh plea challenging Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar’s order on the disqualification of eight defected Congress MLAs will be filed before the Supreme Court with the hearing likely next week.
Earlier this week, during the proceedings of a Special Leave Petition (SLP), former Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar’s legal representative submitted to the Bench that the petition had become infructuous. The Bench thereafter dismissed the SLP.
Chodankar’s petition, filed on January 22, 2024, sought the expeditious disposal of long-pending disqualification cases with the Legislative Assembly Speaker.
He stated that with his repeated interventions before the Courts, the Speaker finally passed its judgment on the pending disqualification petitions after an inexplicable delay of 720 days.
The Supreme Court, in its order, has stated that since the Speaker had already passed its decision, the matter had become infructuous. However, it emphasized that the broader legal issue of delays by Speakers in deciding disqualification cases remains under examination by a larger bench.
“We, however, clarify that the larger issue in question, which arises from the delay in deciding the disqualification petitions, is being examined in other matters, including SLP (C ) No. 33677/2015 titled “S.A. Sampath Kumar v.Kale Yadaiah & Ors.”. The dismissal of the present SLP will have no bearing on the said issue/matter,” the order by SC stated.
The Sampath Kumar case, pending since 2015, deals with the judiciary’s authority to direct Speakers. During arguments, one of the judges opined how delays by Speakers often result in cases becoming infructuous due to the completion of legislative terms.
Chodankar said he will now appeal the decision of the Speaker on his Disqualification Petition before the Supreme Court. It is likely to be heard before the end of the month.
Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar had observed that the merger of an elected member’s original political party with another party would not result in the member’s disqualification in either contingency.
