In a big jolt to the authority of the Bihar Assembly Speaker and the ruling JD(U), the Patna High Court on Tuesday struck down the November 1 order of Speaker Udai Narayan Chaudhary terminating the membership of four rebel ruling party MlAs. The High Court restored the membership of these MlAs who had also been deprived of the facilities they would have availed as former MlA.
The High Court single Bench of Justice Jyoti Sharan struck down the Speaker’s order saying the ground for disqualification of the sitting legislators was not tenable. The four MlAs, Gyanendra Singh Gyanu (Barh), Neeraj Kumar Bablu (Chhatapur), Rahul Kumar (Ghosi) and Ravindra Rai (Mahua) welcomed the court’s verdict and accused former CM Nitish Kumar of orchestrating their disqualification.
Parliamentary affairs Minister Shrawan Kumar who is also the chief whip of the party in the Assembly said party is contemplating to challenge the High Court’s order in the Supreme Court. Bihar JD(U) president Bashistha Narain Singh after meeting Nitish also expressed the similar view. “We honour the court’s order but options are open for us including moving the apex court,” he said and added it was not a jolt for the party.
The membership of the foursome had been terminated by the Speaker on charges that they proposed the names of rebel candidates in the Rajya Sabha bypolls last year and also worked as their polling agents. The JD(U) chief whip had pleaded before the Speaker that they should be disqualified under the provisions of the anti-defection Act. This alibi was strongly challenged by High Court lawyer Shashi Bhushan Mangalam, the pleader for the four MlAs saying the legislators role in Rajya Sabha polls does not come under the ambit of the Act.
The restoration of the membership of these MlAs, who had turned bitter critic of Nitish, will prove an embarrassment for the Speaker Chaudhary, who is holding this chair since 2005, as Gyanu said there will be deficit of respect for the chair. “The Speaker’s order had been dictated by Nitish,” he said. Rai added, “Nitish is the villain of the entire episode.” Chaudhary had always been under the fire earlier, from the RJD and now from the BJP.
The court order has also brought strong hope for another set of four rebel JD(U) MlAs whose membership has been terminated by the Speaker on similar charges on December 28. Poonam Devi (Digha), Ajit Kumar (Kanti), Raju Kumar Singh (Sahebganj), and Sursh Chanchal (Sakra) have also challenged this order in the Patna High Court.
Incidentally, all these eight JD(U) MlAs have come closer to the BJP and are expected to join the party. Gyanu, once a close confident of Nitish and second term MlA from Barh, once represented by Nitish, has been accorded Z category security cover by the Union home ministry recently after he alleged threat to his life by the Nitish supporters.
Expectedly, the BJP and the lJP hailed the court order. Union Minister and lJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan said the court order has proved that the Speaker was wrong. Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey said the Speaker’s order was undemocratic and unconstitutional.