Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea against Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker’s decision to drop disqualification proceedings against 21 AIADMK MLAs who had voted in favour of the TVK government during a confidence motion despite the party whip. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant said it would not interfere with the Madras High Court order dismissing the public interest litigation filed by P V Selvakumar.
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At the same time, the bench said it was leaving the questions of law open and could examine them in an appropriate case. During the hearing, the court repeatedly questioned whether Selvakumar had the standing to pursue the matter, saying he was neither a legislator nor an authorised representative who could press for disqualification proceedings.
Appearing for Selvakumar, advocate Nina Nariman said he was an AIADMK member and a voter concerned about the conduct of the legislators. Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed that proceedings under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution had to be pursued by a member of the House. “We are fully with you that the sanctity of constitutional mandate must be preserved. But we must understand the working of a democratic system,” the judge said.
The bench also noted that the AIADMK leadership appeared to have condoned the conduct of the MLAs and said the grievance should be raised by the party or its authorised representatives. Nariman argued that the issue went beyond the party whip and also involved communications sent to the Assembly Speaker. The bench, however, asked whether a third party could challenge the decision after the AIADMK had chosen to pardon the legislators. Referring to an earlier Supreme Court ruling, Nariman said the court had held that if all legislators had defected and none was left, a third person could move the court for relief. She added that in the earlier case all legislators had defected, while in the present matter only some of them had done so.
The dispute began after 25 AIADMK MLAs voted in favour of the TVK government led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay during a confidence motion on May 13, despite the party directing them to vote against it. Disqualification proceedings were started against them the next day under the 10th Schedule. The party later sought withdrawal of the proceedings against 21 MLAs, and the Speaker accepted the request, while the remaining four legislators had resigned from the party. Selvakumar challenged the move, saying the Speaker could not drop the proceedings only because the party had changed its stand, since defying a party whip carried constitutional consequences. The Madras High Court dismissed the PIL, holding that Selvakumar had no authority to question the decision and noting that the party had condoned the legislators’ conduct within the prescribed period.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
