PANAJI
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee’s former chairman Girish Chodankar has filed a fresh plea before the Supreme Court seeking the disqualification of the eight defected MLAs. The petition has been registered and is likely to be listed for hearing next week.
During the hearing of a Special Leave Petition (SLP) last month, Chodankar’s legal representative submitted to the Bench that the petition had become infructuous after which the plea was dismissed.
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, 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.
This was followed by a fresh plea on February 10. “Under the prevailing conditions and the repeated instances of blatant defection orchestrated by malafide political actors, the petition will serve as a beacon for restoring democratic values and upholding the mandate of the electorate,” Chodankar said.
