PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa will continue the hearing into a disqualification plea filed by Girish Chodankar, who on Wednesday sought disposal of the matter citing a previous ruling by the Division Bench.
The former Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President filed the petition on January 6, challenging Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar's order that dismissed his application seeking the disqualification of eight defecting MLAs.
During the hearing before the Division Bench of Justice Makarand Subhash Karnik and Justice Nivedita Mehta on Wednesday, Advocate Abhijit Gosavi, representing Chodankar, argued for disposing of the matter stating that the High Court had previously ruled on a similar case filed by him. The advocate further stated that the issue would ultimately need to be resolved by the Supreme Court, where an appeal is being made.
To this, Advocate General Devidas Pangam, representing the Speaker, opposed the motion for disposal arguing that additional related petitions are still pending. The hearing is now scheduled to continue on Thursday.
In December 2024, the Supreme Court declined to entertain Chodankar's plea, with a Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar asking the Congress leader to approach the High Court to challenge the Speaker’s decision dated November 1.
Tawadkar had observed that upon the merger of the original political party of the elected member with another political party, the elected member will not face disqualification in either contingency.
Besides seeking to set aside the Speaker’s order, Chodankar has urged the Court that pending hearing and final disposal of the matter, it should restrain the 8 MLAs from participating in the proceedings of the Goa Legislative Assembly and even from being appointed as minister in the government.
