PANAJI
The Goa Speaker Rajesh Patnekar came in for sharp criticism on his decision to pass orders on the disqualification pleas against 12 MLAs on April 29 with the Chief Justice of India Sharad A Bobde asking the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Speaker, whether the initial date was fixed with an eye on the fact that he (Bobde) would retire on April 23.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Speaker to pass the order on April 20. Earlier, Patnekar had said that the final order in the matter will be pronounced on April 29.
CJI Bobde wants to finish hearing on the matter before his retirement. “You want the matter to go to another bench, which will have to hear the case all over again,” CJI Bobde, who heads the three-judge bench hearing the case, castigated the law officer.
Finally, after receiving instructions, Mehta informed the court that the Speaker would decide the matter on April 20. The court scheduled a hearing on April 21.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner Girish Chodankar and the Congress party, said the Speaker was making a mockery of the whole process under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution by not deciding on the petitions for the past 19 months. On January 4, CJI had told the speaker to finish the hearing as early as possible. The 10 Ex-Congress MLA disqualification matter will now come for hearing before the Supreme Court on April 21. A bench of CJI Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian posted the matter for further hearing on April 21.
Speaker assures court he will comply
PANAJI: Coming under fire from the Supreme Court, Speaker Rajesh Patnekar assured the apex court bench led by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde that he will pass a final order in the disqualification petition filed by the Congress party by April 20.
