The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought Telangana government's response on pleas against the purported delay by the Assembly speaker to decide on the disqualification of BRS MLAs, who defected to Congress, saying a timely decision was key and there couldn't be a case of "operation successful but patient is dead".
A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Augustine Gerorge Masih said the decision on pleas over the disqualification of the lawmakers "cannot go on till the end of the Assembly session".
The court also issued notices to the office of the speaker of Telangana legislative assembly, the secretary of assembly and the Election Commission.
Responses were also sought from MLAs Danam Nagender, Venkata Rao Tellam and Kadiyan Srihari who were directed to comply before the next hearing on March 25.
“Every matter cannot be dealt with in a manner that the operation is successful but the patient is dead,” Justice Gavai said.
Senior advocate CA Sundaram, appearing for BRS leader Padi Kaushik Reddy, said not taking a decision by the assembly speaker amounted to a failure in performing the constitutional mandate.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi opposed the submission and said a time frame couldn't be given to the speaker to decide the disqualification plea.
He said on July 1, 2024, the plea for disqualification was filed with the assembly speaker and on July 9, a petition was filed in the Telangana High Court.
“In a democracy, the process should not go on till the end of the term of the assembly and if it happens then what will happen to the democratic principles,” Justice Gavai said.
The court added, “People are not only interested in getting the law decided but also see how it affects them."
The bench said when the case was first listed on January 31, it deferred the hearing to February 10 and asked senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi whether the assembly speaker would like to express the timeline within which he would decide the disqualification plea.
Rohatgi said no such statement could be made on behalf of the speaker, the bench observed.
“Singhvi and Rohatgi state that no formal notice was there and thus no reply could be filed. Even though it is hyper technical we don't want it to be said that the case was decided against principles of natural justice. Hence we issue a notice returnable on March 25,” the bench said.
Telangana High Court registrar general was directed to ensure that notices were served.
On February 10, the bench said in a democracy, rights of a party couldn't be permitted to be frustrated. It had asked as top what will be the "reasonable time" for Telangana Assembly speaker to decide pleas for disqualification of BRS MLAs.
A high court division bench had said the state legislative assembly speaker must decide on the disqualification petitions against the three MLAs within a "reasonable time".
One of the pleas challenged the November 2024 order of the Telangana High Court over the disqualification of three BRS MLAs, who joined the ruling Congress party in the state whereas another petition related to the remaining seven legislators who defected.
